


Long Time Coming

by Kiki_The_Ink



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Avoided Apocalypse AU, Blood, F/M, Future AU, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Suicide mention, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-02-10 03:16:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18651778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiki_The_Ink/pseuds/Kiki_The_Ink
Summary: After narrowly avoiding the Apocalypse, Diego tries to pull his life together. He rejoins the Police Academy, and after four years, manages to work his way up to Federal Agent. Eudora, who had survived her gunshot, happily remained as a Detective, and the two eventually rekindled their relationship. The rest of the Hargreeves were managing to move on with their live too.Until the BAU get a new case, that is.





	1. Snapshots of The BAU

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a few moments of Diego's time in the BAU, and his interactions with the team before the BIG case

"You're Detective Hargreeves?" The man before Diego asked. Diego swallowed against his dry throat and shook the man's hand with a nod. The man before him was Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, the Unit Chief for the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the unit where Diego was applying for a job. The BAU was a prestigious team in the FBI, and only the best of the best can become one of their profilers.

Diego sat down across from Hotch's desk, trying not to let his nerves show. Hotch placed his hands on the desk, giving Diego a strange look. "So... I've read through your file, and you're a good Detective. You've done some excellent work but I noticed that you weren't always..."

"Official?" Diego finished for him, gritting his teeth.

"You were kicked out of the Police Academy your first time around," Hotch said. "And you became a vigilante,"

"Yeah, I was young and thought I knew everything," Diego said. "I just wanted the action, to catch the bad guys and for that to be it. But I'm changed, and I want to this right this time,"

Hotch raised his eyebrow. "And what happened to change your mind?"

Diego sighed. "Four years ago, my negligence almost cost my Fiance her life. She's a Detective too, always did things by the book. So now I've given up that life,"

Hotch nodded, and went to reach for Diego's file, but paused and squeezed his eyes shut. "Here's something I don't understand, Detective Hargreeves," Hotch said, looking back at Diego. "With your background, you barely made it to become a Detective, actually I'm surprised they even let you back into the Academy. I don't know if you're here because you think this is some part of your redemption, but why waste your time to come all the way down here, when you know you won't get the job?"

"Because I know I would be a valuable asset to this team," Diego said, leaning forward into his seat. "I may not have always played by the rules, but I have always been good at tracking down people. I know this job isn't a trophy, or a title to brag about. I want to help people, and I know I can do it,"

Hotch eyed Diego with a squint. He glanced at Diego's file again, before sliding it over and opening it up. "You have a high number of arrests on your name. Less than 20 cases gone cold. You show strong intuition. So I agree, I think you'll be a valuable asset on this team,"

It took two whole seconds for Hotch's words to register in Diego's brain, and his eyes widened. Hotch extended his hand. "Welcome aboard, Agent Hargreeves,"

Diego jumped up, shaking Hotch's hand eagerly. "Thank you, so much sir, I won't let you down," 

"Okay, take it easy there," Hotch said, and Diego straightened.

"Right, yes sir,"

Hotch did find this amusing, even if he didn't show it. He strode out of his office, gesturing for Diego to follow. "Everyone, allow me to introduce you to the newest member of our team," Hotch pointed at a blonde woman wearing a brightly coloured dress.

"And Garcia?" The woman, Garcia, smiled. "Don't,"

Garcia frowned, turning back to the rest of the team who were hiding their snickers. Diego decided to keep quiet.

"Everyone, this is SSA Diego Hargreeves," Hotch said, and Diego struggled not to smile at the new title. "Hargreeves, these are SSA's David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, Dr. Spencer Reid, and our Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia," Diego shook hands with the rest of the team, except for Dr. Reid, who had positioned himself near the back of the group, and simply waved.

"Hargreeves," Rossi mused. "That's not exactly a common name, but I'm pretty sure I've heard it somewhere before,"

Diego shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah my sister is an actress,"

"That's probably it," Rossi nodded, and Diego let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Your sister is an actress, you say?" Morgan said coyly, and Diego squinted at him. Morgan gave Dr. Reid a nudge. "Hey, remember that case we had where you-"

"I'm not doing this again," Reid replied, Morgan and Jareau smiling wickedly. Rossi and Prentiss, however, looked just as bewildered as Diego.

At that, Hotch's phone beeped, and he glanced at the screen before turning to Diego. "Ready for your first case?"

\---

It was a three weeks later, on the plane back after Diego's second case, where Rossi sat across from him. Reid and Morgan were curled up asleep beside one another, Jareau, who insisted on being called JJ, sat across from them, texting her husband and son, Henry. Prentiss and Hotch were enjoying a drink and small talk together. None of them were paying attention to them.

"You know, I finally figured out where I heard your name before," Rossi said, cocking his head to the side. Diego, who had been fiddling with a pen, looked up.

"It... wasn't Allison?" He asked, attempting to keep the nerves out of his voice.

"No. Did you have a family member who served in Vietnam?" Rossi asked, and Diego's blood ran cold.

"You served with Klaus in 'Nam?"

"Klaus!" Rossi said, shaking a finger. "Yes, that was his name. He wasn't there for very long, I'd only met him a few times. I knew his friend Katz well though,"

"Katz?" Diego said. "You mean, Dave Katz?"

"Yeah. He and Klaus were... close,"

"They were dating,"

"Yeah," Rossi said, looking down solemnly at his hand, resting on the table. A small smile crept onto his face. "It was during Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but pretty much everyone knew,"

Diego snorted. "I don't think Klaus was ever in the closet,"

Rossi chuckled. "How are you related to him, exactly? Is he an uncle of yours?"

Diego swallowed thickly. "He's my brother," He admitted, and Rossi's eyebrows furrowed, confused by the obvious difference in ethnicity and his assumption that he and Klaus were the same age. "We're adopted," Diego added, and Rossi nodded.

"What ever happened to him? I heard that Dave passed away, but I didn't hear anything about him after,"

Diego squeezed the pen. "He hit drugs pretty hard. I'm pretty sure he nearly OD-ed a few times. But he's been clean almost three years now,"

"That's good to know," Rossi said. "It must have been hard on him, losing Katz like that,"

Diego nodded, releasing the pen from his grip and placing it down on the table. "What was he like?" Diego asked. "Dave, I mean. I never met him, but the way Klaus talks about him..."

It was a white lie. Diego had met Dave once, when Klaus had managed to make him corporeal for all of three seconds. Diego had barely managed to say 'Hi' when Dave was gone again.

"He was a good man," Rossi said. "They were really happy together,"

Diego smiled. He wanted to tell Rossi that they were still happy, that Klaus can still talk to Dave, but none of the team had heard of the Umbrella Academy (Surprisingly), and apparently Garcia had a habit of researching about their new members, but Hotch had forbade her. He didn't know if Hotch was protecting Diego, or he was trying to break Garcia's habit, but he was thankful anyway. He didn't need his new team to look at him with pitiful, curious, or disgusted eyes.

So he just let this one go.

\---

A couple of months later, Diego had lost track of how many cases he had solved, but the one he had just been on was a huge success. A child murderer, they managed to catch him just before he killed his fourth victim, a ten year old girl. She was now with her family, who had praised them through heavy sobs.

"Well, I think this calls for a evening of wine and Rossi's fine cooking," JJ said, with a huge smile.

"Oh, I could go for that," Garcia added, others humming behind her.

"Is Will going to be joining us?" Rossi asked.

"I'll have to find a babysitter. Give me a minute," JJ replied, stepping away and pulling out her phone.

"What about the rest of you? Will you be bringing plus ones?" Rossi asked, as Hotch pulled out his phone.

"Not me," Said Reid.

"No surprise there," Morgan grinned, and Reid laughed sarcastically.

"How 'bout Hargreeves?" Prentiss asked with a smile. "You got a special lady to bring to dinner tonight?"

"How do you know it's not a man?" Diego replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry I-"

"Her name is Eudora," Diego said, as he got into the elevator. "But still, you shouldn't assume,"

Prentiss rolled her eyes, and looked over her shoulder. "You coming Hotch?"

"No, I have still have some work do to. Go on without me," He said with a nod off, and everyone groaned.

\---

Eudora fixed the collar of her blouse as she climbed the steps up to Rossi's house.

"Will you stop?" Diego said. "You look gorgeous. Like always,"

"I want to look professional for meeting FBI agents," She replied.

"You're engaged to one," Diego said, knocking on the door.

"I meant a real one,"

Diego's jaw dropped open, and Eudora grinned at him. The door opened, revealing a well groomed Rossi. "Ah, Diego, welcome to my humble abode. And you must be the lovely Eudora," Rossi took Eudora's hand and kissed it with a bow. Eudora laughed, and Rossi welcomed them inside.

They sat at the table with Rossi, JJ, her husband Will, Reid, Morgan, Prentiss and Garcia. They ate, drank, chatted and laughed, and had a good night.

"You know what I just realised?" Morgan said with a smile. "Your name is Diego, and your name-"

"Is like Dora," Eudora finished. "Yes, you are not the first person to make that joke,"

"You should complete the set and get a pet monkey," Prentiss laughed. Eudora's head snapped around to Diego.

"Pogo!"

"No,"

"Next time it's Pogo's birthday we're buying him boots,"

"No we're not," Diego said, struggling to hide his smile.

"Whose Pogo?" JJ asked.

Diego sighed, and lolled his head back as he tried to come up with the appropriate response.

"He's Diego's family monkey,"

"First of all, he's a chimpanzee," Diego said, as everyone collectively lost their minds. "And secondly, he's not like, a pet, he's part of the family,"

"I'm sorry," Prentiss said. "HOW did you have a chimpanzee?"

Diego shrugged. "My Dad had a chimpanzee,"

"How did you get him?" Garcia asked, wide eyed.

"I don't know, I'm assuming he was bought with money," Diego said. It's how his Dad got the rest of his family.

"Human's and Chimpanzee's share about 98% of our DNA, and have complex social relationships and interactions including grooming and a hierarchy, as well as a wide range of vocalizations, facial expressions, body postures, and gestures," Reid began. "And while many people tend to keep Chimps as exotic pets, all primates can't be kept past sexual maturity because they would become violent and aggres-"

"Pogo's not like that," Diego interrupted.

"I was only just-"

"Yeah I know," Diego said. "And I'm only saying that he's not like that,"

A few awkward moments of silence passed, before Will cleared his throats and changed the topic of conversation.

Later that night, Eudora was sat in front of her mirror, removing her earrings. "Are you going to apologize to Reid tomorrow?"

"Apologize?" Diego said. "For what?"

Eudora put her elbow on the table and turned to him. "He was only sharing some random facts, he doesn't know Pogo is genetically enhanced, and judging by the way you hid it, you don't want them to know?"

"Yeah exactly, he doesn't know anything about my family, he doesn't have to right to make assumptions,"

"He was making conversation," Eudora scoffed. "And it's not his fault he doesn't know anything about your family,"

Diego sat at the edge of their bed, his elbows resting on his knees.

"I know your relationship with your family is complicated," Eudora said. "But you're not the only one Diego. You should try talking, you know, it's fun," 

Diego didn't say anything.

\---

The next day, Diego sat at his desk, staring blankly down at his report file that was due in tomorrow. He groaned, and glanced up at the photo of him and Eudora on his desk. He kept the photo there for many reasons. Because seeing her face makes him feel better, because it invites curious questions and he gets to talk about her. The main reason, however, was to remind him of why he was doing this. Every time he feels pissed off at bureaucracy, at paperwork and all the redundant shit that kicked him out of the Police Academy, he looks at the photo of her.

And looking at her photo made him turn over to Reid's desk. He frowned, noticing that Reid wasn't there. "Where's Reid?" He asked no one in particular.

"He's down helping Garcia," Prentiss replied, not looking up from her own file. "Something to do with security footage, y'know, since he's already done his paperwork,"

Morgan snorted from his desk. Having an eidetic memory certainly helps with recalling events, and of course the nerd also enjoys doing paperwork. Diego sighed, rolling his head back over to Reid's desk. He frowned, spotting something shiny. It was something not just anyone would notice, hey, not all profilers would notice the little coin snuggled against the junk on Reid's desk. He stood, went over to Reid's desk and picked it up, confirming Diego's suspicions.

A sobriety chip.

"What are you doing?"

Diego spun around to see Reid standing behind him. "Ahhhhh..." Diego trailed off, before handing him the chip.

"Were you snooping in my stuff?"

"No!" Diego proclaimed. "No I swear, I just noticed that and wanted to know what..." Diego relaxed slightly, in an attempt to seem less threatening, though Reid was still glaring at him.

"What... what is it for?"

Reid sat down at his desk, putting the chip back in it's place. "Narcotics. Not that it's any of your business,"

Diego stood there awkwardly for a few moments, before returning silently to his seat. He glanced up once, to see Morgan and Prentiss snap their heads back to their paperwork. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and wanted the ground to swallow him up.

\---

Their next case, Hotch ordered Reid and Diego to drive to the crime scene of their latest victim. The two sat in silence, broken by Diego clearing his throat. "I'm sorry about the other day. At Rossi's. For, snapping at you like that,"

Reid simply shrugged.

"I just have a thing about my family,"

"Even the pet monkey?"

"He's not a-!" Diego stopped himself and bit his lip. "Yes. Even him," He glanced over at Reid, whose face has softened. "And I'm sorry for snooping in your desk too,"

Reid hesitated. "Let's make a deal," he said. "I won't talk about your family, if you won't ask about my addiction?"

Diego nodded. "Okay. Deal,"

\---

Another case, another child murderer. It was clear how hard these cases were on Hotch and JJ, who had kids at home. A new victim had been found, a fifteen year old boy named Marlon. With a surviving twelve-year-old brother, Nick. JJ and Diego were sent to the victims house to ask questions about Marlon.

Nick was sitting on his front door porch when Diego went to go find him. The kid glanced up at Diego, his face sour.

"What are you doing out here?" Diego asked. The kid shrugged. Diego sighed and sat down beside him.

"Was it bad?" Nick asked. "Was he...? Was it bad?"

"He didn't suffer," Diego said.

"How did he die?"

"You don't want to know,"

"Yes I do,"

"No, you don't," Diego insisted. "The worst thing you can do right now is spend your nights putting yourself in your brothers shoes. Just know that wasn't in any pain,"

"How do you know?" Nick grumbled. "You weren't there,"

"No, I wasn't," Diego said. "But I was there when my brother died. And I would give anything not to know what happened to him,"

Nick looked up at Diego. "Was your brother murdered too?"

Diego nodded.

"Was it bad?"

Diego nodded. "Really bad,"

"Did you find who did it?"

"I did," Diego said. "I can't promise that I'll find the guy who killed Marlon. But I promise I'll work my butt off tracking him down,"

Nick nodded at Diego, his eyes more solid and sturdy. "Thanks,"

"We uh..." JJ said from behind Diego. "Should get back to the station," She looked back at Nick's parents. "Thanks again for having us. We'll let you know if we need anything else, or if there's anything new in the investigation,"

JJ and Diego walked back to their SUV. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Most of it," JJ said, as she climbed in the passenger side. "Can I ask?"

Diego looked at her. "You want to know what happened to my brother? It's not pretty,"

"Most things aren't," She said, reaching up to play with the small gold pendant on her chest.

Diego licked his lips, and started up the car. "When I was a kid, my brothers and sisters and I, we..." He hesitated. "We were seventeen, we were at a bank, in a hostage situation,"

JJ's head tilted to the side, and her eyes widened slightly.

"One of... one of the guys needed a hostage, to make a threat, or to negotiate, I don't know. But he picked my brother Ben. And he strapped a bomb to his chest,"

JJ's jaw dropped open, but she stayed silent.

"I don't know if it was an accident, or if it was on purpose, but... The second they forced Ben to step outside of the bank, the bomb went off. That's how he died,"

"That's..." She swallowed thickly. "Hargreeves I'm so sorry. That's... horrific,"

"Yeah," Diego replied.

JJ rolled her eyes around the car in thought. "When I was a kid, my older sister died," She said, and Diego glanced at her with eyes full of shock. "Suicide,"

"I'm sorry,"

"I'm just letting you know that, some people know what you're going through,"

Diego went to say something but stopped himself. He had went to say something along the lines of 'Suicide is not the same as seeing your brother explode', but he didn't know anything about JJ's sister. For all he knew, JJ was the one who found her.

And besides, Diego's not about to be the guy who says his trauma is worse than yours. So he simply nodded. "Thanks JJ. I appreciate it,"

And he did.

\---

New case, Hotch and Diego were off to investigate the newest crime scene, an alleyway behind a vegan donut shop. Diego stepped inside, and sat across from the middle-aged woman who was sat in a booth. She looked up at Diego, and her face fell.

"I was hoping it had nothing to do with you," She said.

"Excuse me?" Diego asked. The woman sighed.

"A few years ago my donut shop back in Michigan was attacked, remember?"

Her face clicked in Diego's mind. "Right. Yes, I remember. I am, so sorry you had to go through something like this again, but I assure you this has nothing to do with that,"

"Yes it does," The woman, Agnes, replied. "Why else would you be here? I promise you, we never said anything about the Commission, we played by your rules-"

"No, I'm not with-" Diego paused, frowning. "How do you know about the Commission?"

Agnes' jaw dropped open and her eyes filled with fear. Diego quickly waved a hand in front of her. "No no no, I'm not with the Commission, okay, I'm not going to hurt you,"

She shifted in her seat, clearly distrusting. Diego sighed.

"This has nothing to do with the Commission, I promise. I just want to find out what happened to that man out back, so his family can get some closure,"

Agnes regarded Diego with suspicion. "I didn't see anything. It was... it was my husband who..."

"Okay, may I speak with your husband?"

Agnes didn't move, but her eyes flickered over to the counter. "He's... in the back,"

"Okay, thank you," Diego said, getting to his feet on heading to the counter. He paused and looked back. "I'm the only one who knows about the Commission, so I would advise you not to say anything to my co workers," He shrugged, and she nodded.

Hazel was the last man Diego had expected to see, and of course, the second the two laid eyes on one another, they yelled and prepared to attack. After two seconds when neither of them did, Diego shouted "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I'm retired with my wife, what the hell are you doing here!?"

"I'm investigating a murder," He replied, relaxing slightly. "What the hell did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything!" Hazel retorted. "I told you, I'm retired,"

"Yeah well I'm not about to trust the man who tortured my brother, and shot my Fiance,"

"Cha-Cha shot your Fi-she's you Fiance?"

"Yeah, we got engaged last year,"

"Oh congratulations,"

"Thank you," Diego spat angrily.

Hazel sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for everything I did to you and your family-"

"You're sorry?" Diego scoffed. "I'm going to need a little bit more than sorry here, Hazel,"

"Okay, that's fair," Hazel reasoned. "But all I want is for Agnes to be happy. She's the best thing that ever happened to me. Please don't ruin this for her,"

Diego's eyes flickered to the door, where Agnes waited beyond it.

A long moment passed between the two, and Hazel mentally prepared for his death. It wasn't that hard, since that pretty much was part of his job, a part of his life. Even in retirement, he knew he wouldn't escape his job. This life... you don't give it up. 

However, Diego dropped his hands, and it seemed as if today was not Hazel's day of reckoning, so Hazel made the least threatening stance he could think of - eating a donut. Diego looked around the shop. 

"Why here? Why a donut shop?"

"I wanted to go to the 1950's because it was my favourite time," Hazel replied through a mouthful. "But people in the 50's are terribly..."

"Sexist?"

"And racist. And Agnes was homesick, missed her family,"

"What, you don't have a family to go home to?"

"Don't you have a murder to investigate?" Hazel snapped. 

Diego sighed. "Can you tell me what happened?" 

"Aggie said she heard raccoons out in the trash, so I went out to shoo them away. It wasn't raccoons, it was a man dragging a dead body,"

"Did you get a look at his face?" Diego asked. 

"Yeah, he's white, in his mid-twenties, black hair, green eyes, left eyebrow sits about half an inch higher than his right, 5"8, incredibly fit. I know I've been eating a lot of donuts recently, but I'm still a highly trained assassin and I couldn't catch up with him,"

"Any reason he might have chosen the alley to dump the body?"

"Because its a dark quiet alley, I thought you were suppose to be doing the investigating?" 

Diego grit his teeth. "I mean any reason in particular, had you seen him around here before?"

"Couple of times passing on the street, but he never came in here," 

Hotch opened the door to the back room. "Mr. Rofa? I'm Agent Hotchner,"

Hazel gave him a nod, and a glance at Diego. "Your surname is Rofa?"

"It was Aggie's," He admitted bashfully, before looking up at Hotch. "Do you need me for anything?" 

"We will need you to come down to the station, to make a statement," Hotch said. "Is there anything else Hargreeves?"

"No, we're good," 

"Okay, then we should get back," 

Hazel gave a lazy wave as Diego and Hotch turned to leave. "If you get a chance, could you give my apologies to your brother?"

"Which one?" 

"The weird one," 

"That doesn't narrow it down," 

Hazel chuckled. "All of them then," 

Diego waved him off. 

"Do you know him?" Hotch asked. 

"Yeah," Diego replied. "He's a... he's an old friend," 

"Did he have anything useful to say?" Hotch asked, stepping outside of the shop and nodding to the CSI cleaning up the alley. 

"Yeah he gave a description, fits the profile. 5"8, black hair, green eyes and one eyebrow higher than the other," 

"One eyebrow-" Hotch cocked his head as he opened up the door to their SUV. "That's oddly specific, how would he have noticed that?"

Diego licked his lips. "Hazel used to be a Private Investigator," He blurted out, because it was the first thing he could think of. "We crossed paths. He was... really good," 

Hotch narrowed his eyes at Diego. 

"What?" Diego asked. 

"You don't seem sure here, Hargreeves," Hotch said. "Is there something you're not telling me?" 

"No," Diego said. "No just, we didn't always get along. Thats... that's it," 

Hotch didn't say anything, but Diego could see by the way Hotch held himself that he didn't believe him. But he didn't push it, and for now, that was good enough for Diego.


	2. Mission Brief

Diego groaned at seeing the fresh pile of paperwork on his desk. He glanced at Morgan, then at Reid, back at Morgan. The two scooped up their paperwork, subtly turning to Reid's desk.

"Don't you dare," Hotch said, striding past. "Everyone up, we've got a case,"

Diego and Morgan tossed their paperwork on their desks, before heading up to the conference room where Garcia was waiting, remote in hand. She grimaced at everyone as they sat down. "Okay, so, we have five victims across three states, all found in their homes with their hearts cut out and burned," She shivered. "Post-mortem, thank God,"

"The cause of death was a gunshot to the head, execution style, but the burning of the hearts is ritualistic," Reid said. "Usually burning a heart is associated with burning away the evil in someones heart, or to prevent someone from coming back from the dead,"

"There's more," Garcia said, before anyone else could speak. "A number was left at each of the victims bodies, its what tied them together,"

"26, 27, 29, 30, 31," Morgan read out. "Is this a sequence, or are we counting up and missing 28?"

"As well as 1-25," JJ added slowly.

"Well, that's what I thought, so I extended the search parameters to all states in the last five years and..." Garcia clicked a button, and more bodies flashed on screen. "Four more victims popped up,"

"And there's 28," Rossi said. "As well as 23, 24 and 25,"

"The victims cross gender and racial lines, so our UnSub doesn't exactly have a type," Diego said. "The first 22 could be anyone,"

"The earlier victims are younger then our newer ones," Reid said. "Most likely this UnSub is projecting himself onto his victims, our latest victim is 32, so we can assume that's how old our UnSub is,"

"And if we take the last five years into consideration, our UnSub has a time line," Hotch said. "And that timeline is accelerating, which means our UnSub is heading for a spree. The most recent vic is in Michigan, so that's where we'll be heading. Wheels up in thirty,"

\---

On the plane, the team continued to discuss the case, Rossi being the first to voice his concern. "The death of the victims is whats confusing me here," Rossi said. "Our UnSub burns their hearts, as Reid said its ritualistic. Yet the gunshot to the head states this is a mission killing,"

"It is possible that our UnSub feels they are on a mission from God," Reid said. "He sees and evil in these people, or rather himself that he projects onto these people, and feels he is a messenger from God sent to kill them,"

"But why just the hearts?" JJ asked. "Why not burn the whole body, and why shoot them first? There's no sign of remorse after the hearts have been burned, so why kill so quick?"

"What if our UnSub is unable to intimidate our victims?" Diego mused. "He needs a gun to take them out quick, because the victims are stronger than them,"

"Our victims are incredibly diverse," Morgan said. "So if that's the case, our UnSub is most likely disabled of some kind,"

"Our UnSub seems incredibly disciplined," Prentiss said. "Military training most likely. Perhaps he was injured in the army, before turning his attention to this?"

"Garcia, look in to the victims families, see if they have any connection to each other whatsoever," Hotch said. "And see if anyone had a family member in the military who was discharged,"

"I will have the answer for you faster than Reid can read," She replied.

"Wait before you go," Diego said. "Just to be on the safe side, extend your search parameters another five years,"

"That's a good idea," Hotch said with a nod. "Let us know what comes up," Garcia waved and popped off the Skype chat.

"Okay when we get to the station, JJ, I'll need you to deal with the press, if they find out how many victims there are they will slander it everywhere, and that's only going to make our UnSub more pressured,"

JJ nodded, even though dealing with the press wasn't technically her job anymore, she was very good at it, and this is was a special occasion.

"The rest of us will head down to the station and set up there," Hotch said. "Diego. This is where you used to work isn't it?"

Diego flicked through the file he had before him. "Yeah. Yeah it is. Guess I'll be introducing you to some of my old friends,"

"All good I hope," Morgan joked, but his face fell when he saw Diego's serious face.

"Some of them... are not my biggest fan," Diego admitted.

"What happened?" Prentiss asked with a sigh.

Diego hesitated. "Before Eudora and I got together, and before I was on the force, she was investigating my brothers kidnapping," He said, and Hotch's head snapped up, obviously not aware that Diego's family had been involved in this. "She was shot, and nearly died from it. I was the one who found her, and a lot of her friends believe I was the one who shot her,"

"So you're not going to get a happy welcome," JJ said.

"I will for the most part," Diego replied. "I am actually well liked. Just some of them are idiots,"

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with the investigation, then it’s okay,” Hotch said.

Diego needn’t have worried, because he got a warmer welcome than he had expected. Almost everyone cheered his name, Beauman gave him a good old fashioned bro hug, and everyone at the same time yelled “Is Patch with you?”

Diego laughed at them. “Okay okay, take it easy. No, she’s not unfortunately,”

“You’re here to help with recent murders?” Asked the Chief, Adam Grey. “We’ll get you set up. Right this way agents,”

“Thank you,” Hotch replied, before introducing the team, and mentioning that JJ was meeting with a reporter. Chief Grey led them to a conference room where Reid pulled out the glass boards that were stacked away, and the others pulled out their files.

"Are you all staying at the Hargreeves Mansion?" Grey asked, and Diego stiffened.

"Mansion?" Prentiss asked, throwing Diego a sideways glance, one he had gotten from everyone else. "No. No we have a hotel,"

The Chief nodded, said “Ruth Evans and Richard Hagan’s families will be arriving shortly, I’ve told them you wanted to speak to them,” and left them to it.

"You have a Mansion?" Prentiss asked.

"My Dad, and can we get back to the case?" He said, sticking up some of the photos. After a few moments of silence, Morgan dug out his phone and placed it on the table.

"Hey my beautiful baby girl, you got anything for us?" Morgan said.

"You bet your sweet thun- It's just you guys, right?" Garcia replied.

"It's just us Garcia," Prentiss smiled.

"Okay, just making sure, I don't want anyone to think that I'm insane or anything," She chuckled. "But! In regards to your question, I dug through the families, and none of our victims have had any interactions with one another. And, only three have had someone in their families in the army, but they're all either dead, still serving, or retired of old age like Rossi,"

"Hey!" Rossi complained.

"But, I also did as Hargreeves asked and looks like you have two new bodies to cross examine. Lucky numbers 21 and 22, I'm sending their info to you now. I haven't gotten my perfectly manicured nails into them just yet, but I'll let you know if I find anything,"

"Good work Garcia," Hotch said, hanging up the phone and handing it Morgan.

"All of our victims we've found so far have been going down in numerical order," Reid mused. "Our UnSub puts the numbers down, as if taunting us and wanting us to catch him, but their first twenty victims have been difficult to find,"

"Unless they're lying," Rossi said. "Trying to make us believe that they're more dangerous than they actually are,"

"That doesn't make any sense if our UnSub is mission bound," Hotch said. "Why boast and taunt, if you're on your own agenda?"

"We need to figure out our UnSubs agenda," Diego said.

“Reid, you research more into heart burning,” Hotch said. “Prentiss and Morgan speak with Hagan’s family when they get here, Ro-”

Hotch was interrupted by a chorus of cheers and chatter outside of the Police Station. Hotch frowned, turning back to the team. “Stay here,” He said, getting up to leave. Diego started after him, but stopped himself. Everyone else had stood or moved to windows to try and peer outside.

“That’s a lot of press,” Prentiss frowned. “I didn’t think this town was so popular,”

Hotch stepped outside of the Police Station, to be greeted by a swarm of flashing cameras and microphones. JJ was yelling something over the crowd, along the lines of avoiding questions.

“Is it true you’re working with Diego Hargreeves of The Umbrella Academy on this case?”

“Is he inside right now?”

“Does he still carry knives?”

“How much do you know about the childhood of The Kraken?”

These questions came so hard and fast that Hotch and JJ could barely distinguish them, let alone form a coherent answer.

“No further questions!” Hotch hollered, grabbing JJ by the arm and dragging her inside. She puffed out a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” He asked, and JJ nodded.

“I have no idea what any of the were asking for,” She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure I heard someone shout for Hargreeves but I’m not certain,”

“I suppose it’s an occupational hazard when your teammates sister is famous,” Hotch said, glancing down at his fist as he brought JJ back to their conference room. Reid immediately hopped over to JJ at seeing her flushed face.

“Hey are you okay?”

“I’m fine Spence, don’t worry,” She said with a smile. “It just seems the other officers are not the only one with a welcome party for Hargreeves,” She flicked her hair behind her and turned to Diego, whose throat ran dry. “Didn’t realise how famous your sister was,”

“Yeah,” Diego sighed. “Sorry about that,”

She waved him off. “I’ve dealt with worse… Well, actually I haven’t, but it’s still okay,”

“As I was saying before,” Hotch said. “Morgan and Prentiss talk to Hagan’s family when they get here, Rossi and JJ talk to Evans’. Hargreeves, I need you to come with me,”

Diego nodded and followed Hotch outside the conference room, jumping when Hotch turned sharply to him. “What’s The Umbrella Academy?”

Diego opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it. “W-what are you-”

“Stop hiding, Hargreeves,” Hotch said. “I could have Garcia find out what it is our hiding, but I want to hear from you because something tells me the press haven’t been kind,”

Diego glared at Hotch, his chin wobbling and clenching. Finally, Diego balled his hand into a fist and rest his arm against the wall. “W-w-...w-w-whe-w…” He grit teeth and curled in on himself, cursing himself silently. Hotch’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes ran up and down Diego’s form. A form that had gone from tall and strong, to hunkered and shaking.

He didn’t know Diego had a stutter.

Diego swallowed thickly, and refused to meet Hotch’s eyes. “W-when I wa-wa-when I was a k-kid,” He said, licking his lips. “My D-dad used t-t-to… h-he used t-to make fight. Me and m-my siblings,” Diego took a moment to pause again, to steady his voice. “He trained us to become a crime fighting team, by the time we were 13,” He shrugged. “He was my Dad. I thought it was normal,”

“You were a vigilante since you were a kid?” Hotch asked. “And what- you were famous?”

“Yeah, oh Dad never missed an opportunity to show off his ‘Wonderkids’,” Diego scoffed. “He even bought all of the memorabilia we had made of us. Comics, dolls, clothes,”

Hotch’s eyes flickered between Diego’s, as if trying to find any hint of a lie behind them. “You’re serious?” He said, and Diego nodded slowly.

“I’m so s-”

“Don’t you dare,” Diego said. “Don’t you dare say that, I’m sick of people treating me like a poor tortured kid,”

Hotch didn’t say anything for a moment, because honestly, what the hell do you say to someone who just told you that. He shook, his head, and spied Chief Grey over Diego’s shoulder. Grey knocked on the conference door, beckoning Prentiss and Morgan out. Prentiss didn’t notice them, but Morgan did, raising an eyebrow at Hotch.

Hotch simply turned back to Diego. “What do you want to do about the team?”

“What do you mean?”

“I understand if you don’t want them to know,” Hotch said. “At least not yet. But you can’t keep this down forever,”

“I’ve barely been on this team for six months,” Diego said. “It was one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, I don’t want to give that up,”

“You won’t have to,” Hotch said, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Diego shook his head. “Everyone’s opinion of me changes when they see the Umbrella,” He said. As he turned away, Hotch noticed the way Diego subconsciously latched onto his own wrist, just for a second. But then Diego had turned into the conference room, out of Hotch’s sight.

\---

Chief Grey lead Prentiss and Morgan to room in the station where Ruth Hagan’s mother, a woman in her fifties with short blond hair, her sister, a woman in her mid thirties with brunette hair, and son were waiting. The son was only a few months old, sitting on his grandmother's lap and gurgling excitedly over the teething ring clamped between his gums. Morgan did his best to make himself look tough, a man who can do anything, the man who will definitely hunt down Ruth’s killer, while Prentiss sat down in a seat across from the two women, smiling sadly.

“Abigail and Florence Hagan? My name is Special Agent Emily Prentiss, I’m with the FBI,”

“Yeah, we know,” Abigail said, bouncing the boy on her knee. “We’ve already given our statement to the Police. Why do we have to come back?”

“Because we’re not the Police,” Prentiss replied. “And sometimes we ask things that the Police don’t. We specialise in analysing behaviour, so sometimes we notice things that seem insignificant,”

“Can you tell us when was the last time you saw your daughter, Mrs. Hagan?” Morgan asked.

“Miss,” Abigail corrected. “Florence’s father ran out when Ruth was born,”

Prentiss blinked. “Florence’s father? He wasn’t Ruth’s?”

Abigail stiffened slightly, but shook her head. “No. Ruth never met her father. He doesn’t know she exists,”

Florence stared at her mother with a tight, and slightly angered expression. Prentiss pretended not to notice. “Are you sure?” She pressed. “Because if there’s a chance that her father is invol-”

“He doesn’t know about her,” Abigail insisted, Florence’s jaw clenching. Prentiss looked at Florence. Florence chewed her lip.

“When was the last time you saw Ruth?” Morgan asked from his spot by the door.

“Three days before she died,” Abigail said with a shaky voice. “She came over for a visit, because we hadn’t seen each other in a while. She wanted m-” She paused before a sob could force its way out. “She wanted me to babysit Rylan,”

Prentiss looked at Florence, who was now fiddling with her thumbs. “When was the last time you saw your sister?”

Florence looked down at her hands. “I was with Mom, that was the last time,” She said quickly, throwing a glance at her mother.

“Are you sure?” Prentiss pressed. “If there is anything, anything at all, no matter how insignifi-”

“Ruth was special,” Florence yelped, earning her a hiss from her mother. “We have to tell them Mom!” Florence sobbed. “We have to tell them,”

“Special how?” Morgan asked, his lips pulled tight.

“She was so sweet!” Abigail said. “And kind, and she-”

“She could control water,”

“Florie!”

“I want them to find him, Mom!” Florence snapped, causing little Rylan to cry. Abigail tutted and turned her attention to the crying child.

“What do you mean by-”

“She could make water do whatever she wanted,” Florence interrupted Prentiss. “Not just water, any kind of liquid. I swear she could do it, Mom thinks you’ll do something to us if we tell-”

“She’s delirious with grief,” Abigail scoffed. “Ruth was just a normal… a normal kid,” Abigail’s face crumpled. Florence reached over and scooped Rylan from her as Abigail pulled herself together. “It’s true,” Abigail admitted. “Ruth could… but she never hurt anyone with it, it was like a party trick for her,”

“Do you have any proof of this?” Morgan asked, putting his hands up when Abigail and Florence glared at him. “This is a hard thing to believe, and we work best with evidence,”

“I have a video on my laptop,” Florence said. “From a party, would that do?”

“We’ll have to have it checked by our analyst, but yes, it’s perfect,” Prentiss said. “Thank you. Will you be able to send the video to one of the officers?”

Florence nodded, and after saying their brief goodbyes, Prentiss and Morgan left.

“Do you believe them?”

“No,” Prentiss scoffed. “But it is interesting, if Ruth believed that she had some sort of… super power, for lack of a better word,”

Morgan pushed open the door to the conference room. “Then this could be what the UnSub is hunting?” He suggested. “I admit it ties in with the ritual aspect, but we would have to go back and check with the rest of the families,”

“What’s this?” Reid asked, Diego the only other people in the room. JJ and Rossi must’ve been off with the other family.

“I’ll go check it out with the Evans,” Prentiss stated, leaving Morgan with the boys. Reid cocked his head.

“Apparently, the Hagan’s believe that Ruth could… manipulate water, with her mind,” Morgan said. “Like a super power,”

Reid began to rant about delusions and it’s ties to religion, but Diego tuned him out, with wide eyes.

“Fuck,” He whispered. He scrambled for his phone. “Garcia?”

“Why yes my wonder-”

“Check the birth certificates of all the victims,” He said, and Garcia grimaced.

“Ah, okay, did you get something?”

“Maybe,” Diego said, looking up at Reid. “Check their date of births,”

Reid frowned and flicked through the files rapidly. His jaw dropped. “They were all born on the same day. The 1st of October, 1989,” Reid said. “Thats-”

“Diego, what am I looking for here?” Garcia asked.

“Their fathers, who are the victims fathers?” Diego said.

“Hargreeves, what’s going on?” Morgan asked.

Garcia’s face fell slowly. “All of the victims have ‘Father Unknown’ on their birth certificates. Diego wh-”

Diego hung up. “I’ll be back in a minute,” He said, running out the door.

“What!? Hargreeves!” Morgan yelled after him. Diego bumped into Hotch on his way out, who failed to stop him. Hotch looked back at Morgan, who shrugged dramatically. And angrily.

Hotch sighed, noticing Prentiss, JJ and Rossi making their way back from speaking with the Evans. “Do any of you know what’s up with Hargreeves?”

“What do you mean?” JJ asked.

“I think he has a lead, he asked Garcia to find the victims fathers, turns out they’re all unknown,” Reid said.

“It was right after I told him about Ruth’s delusion,” Morgan said.

“Delusion?” Hotch asked, putting his phone to his ear.

“Ruth believed she could control liquids with her mind,” Prentiss said. “Her family believed it too,”

“How does that translate to our vics not knowing their fathers?” JJ asked.

“He also found they were all born on 1st of October, 1989,” Reid said. “That-”

“Wait, all of them?” Prentiss asked.

“This isn’t helping us figure out where Hargreeves went,” Rossi stated, then cocked his head. “Wait a second, I think… if I’m remembering correctly, I think his brothers birthday might be in October,”

“He’s not answering,” Hotch said. “What do you mean brother?”

“Yeah, Klaus, we served in Vietnam together,”

“Well then that wouldn’t count, we’re talking past 1989 here Rossi,” Morgan said.

“Excuse me, Chief Grey?” JJ asked as the man was passing by. “Do you have any idea where Diego might have gone to, out of the blue?”

The Chief shrugged. “There could be the Academy - the Mansion I mentioned before - or the local boxing club. His brothers and sister live around here too, his sister lives with one brother, the other two brothers live together. Or the local bowling alley, he likes that place for some reason,”

“Do you know their addresses?” Hotch asked, and Grey nodded. “Okay, can you send them to us please? Thank you,”

Hotch began to march away. “JJ go to the boxing club, Prentiss go to the bowling alley, Morgan head to his brother and sisters’ place, Rossi head to his other brothers, Reid, stay here in case he comes back, I’ll go to the Mansion,”

“Wait, Hotch-”

“Can it wait?” Hotch interrupted Reid, who simply deflated at the entire team sweeping out of the Station.


	3. The Hargreeves

JJ pursed her lips as she strolled into the boxing club. It stank, it was dusty, and two people were tearing up the boxing bags at the corner. An older man sat behind a desk, in a stained wife beater shirt and sweaty hands writing in a notebook. JJ strode over. "Excuse me?"

The looked up, and frowned at her. "Yeah?"

"I'm looking for Diego Hargreeves, has he-"

"He hasn't lived here in over four years," The man stated. "You got beef with him, move off somewhere else,"

"Live?" JJ asked. "Diego used to live here? I thought he just trained?"

"He trained too, fought in some matches too when he was down on his rent," The man sniffed. "Or when he threw too many knives,"

"Knives?"

One of the reporters questions flashed through JJ's mind. "Does he still carry knives?"

"Yeah, what you never seen him with a knife?" The man chuckled.

"No, I haven't," JJ replied. "I'm his coworker. At the FBI,"

The man snorted. "If you worked with Diego, then you would have seen him with a knife,"

JJ fished out her credentials, flashing her badge at the man. He through up his hands. "Hey, I never said you weren't a fed. Just said no person talks to Diego for more than ten seconds with having a knife thrown at them,"

JJ frowned. "Do you know where he is?"

"Like I said, I ain't seen hide or tail of him,"

JJ nodded. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions about him?"

The man shrugged.

"What's your association between Diego and knives?" JJ asked. The man threw his head back and laughed maniacally.

"Here, here, Jones! Barry! This woman asked me what's the deal with Diego Hargreeves and knives!"

The two men who had been fighting the boxing bags stopped to laugh. "That was his thing," The man continued.

"Did he use knives in a fight?"

"Nah, Diego never fought dirty,"

"Then what do you mean it's his 'thing'?"

The man raised an eyebrow at her. "The Umbrella Academy?"

JJ raised an eyebrow at him. The man sighed. "I ain't explaining that train wreck to you. Google it,"

JJ squinted at him, before leaving the boxing club. She got into her car, place both hands on the steering wheel and sighed deeply. Her eyes glanced down at her phone. She reached over and picked it up. Her thumb hovered over the multicoloured 'G' icon in the lower left corner of phone.

She clicked into messages, and forwarded a text to everyone. 'He's not at the boxing Club'.

She started the car and drove back to the station.

\---

Morgan climbed the steps of the apartment building, passing by a short, tired looking woman and a teenage boy, about 16, on the way. He arrived at the door, and knocked three times, earning a curious look from the people who he had passed.

"Um, excuse me?" Said the woman. "That's-that's my apartment," She chuckled.

"Oh, are you Diego Hargreeves' sister?" Morgan asked.

The woman hesitated. "... no," She said softly.

Morgan squinted. "Really? Because I was told she lived here," He nodded to the boy by her side. "Her and their brother?"

The woman shook her head. "No, no this is my son," She said, the boy's eyes flicking up to her for the faintest second.

"We just moved in last month," The boy said. "Maybe you're looking for the people who lived there before us?"

Morgan pushed his tongue against his cheek. "Listen. I don't know what Diego is-"

"Five run!" The woman screamed suddenly, and stomped her foot. The ground rippled under Morgan's feet and he lost his balance. He collapsed to the floor, waiting, frozen for a few moments. He frowned. The ground shook for mere seconds. And Morgan has been in an Earthquake before, that is not what an Earthquake feels like.

Unless that woman...? Morgan shook his head. That was impossible. Shakily, Morgan climbed to his feet. The woman and boy was gone.

He only fell when the woman stomped her foot. But that was impossible. It was just a weird coincidence. He took out his phone to send a text. 'Sister's place was a bust. I think I found her but she ran,'

\---

Prentiss headed directly to the counter of the bowling alley. "Excuse me? My name is Agent Emily Prentiss," She said, flashing her badge.

"Do you have anything to do with the Hargreeves?" The man behind the counter said.

Prentiss blinked. "Yes, I-"

"Out!" The man said.

"Excuse me?"

"I said out!" The man repeated. "The Hargreeves are banned after that stunt they pulled four years ago!"

"I'm not a Har-"

"I don't care, I don't want anything to do with them! Thousands of dollars of damage they cost me, I don't care if they repaid, I had to be shut down for months! So out!"

Prentiss threw her hands up and marched back out of the bowling alley. 'Bowling place does NOT like Diego's family' she texted.

\---

Rossi frowned at the texts being sent to him from the team. Looks like they weren't having no luck, they were having bad luck. He wasn't sure what JJ meant, he didn't know what went down with Prentiss, and it didn't make sense that Diego's sister would run from Morgan.

He knocked on the door in front of him.

Unless, maybe... Diego told her to? No, that doesn't make any sense. Why would Diego tell his sister to run from Morgan? Well, she wouldn't recognise him as Morgan, so maybe he simply told her to run from any-

Rossi's eyes widened in shock. Diego's sister must have been born on that day. Why else would she run? So Diego was going to pick her up, no, because Morgan would have seen him.

Rossi was pulled out of his thoughts by an all too familiar face opening the door to him. Klaus Hargreeves spotted Rossi and almost immediately flinched.

"My God," Rossi said. He didn't know that Klaus was the brother he was going to be visiting. "Klaus? You look like you haven't aged a bit," He laughed. "How the hell do you still look like that?"

Klaus squinted. "What? What are yo-" He turned his head slightly, as if looking at someone that Rossi couldn't see, before turning back with wide eyes. "Rossi? David Rossi?"

"Yeah," Rossi grinned widely. "It's been so long,"

"Too long," Klaus nodded, shifting uncomfortably. "What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I'm looking for your brother," Rossi said, and Klaus frowned.

"Luther? Oh, hey Luther!"

"No," Rossi said. "Diego, I'm looking for Diego. I'm his coworker, at the BAU,"

"He never told me that," Klaus said.

"Hey Klaus, I just got a call from Di-" Luther paused at seeing Rossi at the door. He gave a pointed look to Klaus. "Uh,"

"Luther, this is uh..." Klaus ran his hands through his hair. "Diego's coworker. And I'm gonna go," He passed by a sputtering Luther to his bedroom.

Luther turned to Rossi. "Hey," He said awkwardly.

"Were you just gonna say you got a call from Diego?" Rossi asked. "Because we're looking for him. He ran out of the station without a word,"

"Yeah, are you going to show proof of ID?" Luther asked, puffing out his chest.

Rossi looked at him incredulously, before showing Luther his credentials. Luther nodded, satisfied. "Yeah, Diego called. Said one of your 'UnSubs' is after us, wants us to get down to the Police Station,"

"Really?" Rossi said, putting his hands on his waist and hanging his head. "Why didn't he just say that to us?"

"Because Diego acts before he thinks," Luther rolled his eyes. "And he also seems to think that we can't look after ourselves,"

"He's right!"

"Shut up Klaus!" Luther yelled.

"When you say 'after us', who do you mean?" Rossi asked. "Whose 'us'?"

"Us," Luther said, gesturing towards himself, and then Klaus' bedroom door. "His siblings, all of us,"

Rossi tried not to let his confusion show, but did toss a side-eyed glance at the door Klaus was hiding behind. "I suppose he told your sister then too?" He said. "I received a text from my colleague, saying she ran away from him,"

"Yeah, well, you can't be too careful," Luther said. "Are we done here?"

Rossi hesitated. "Yeah, we are. I'll drive you both down to the station-"

"We're fine thank you!" Klaus called.

Luther bit his lip. "He's uh... he's..." Luther gave a vague gesture. "He's just weird,"

Rossi nodded slowly. "... Well I'm sorry, but if Diego reckons that our UnSub is hunting you, then I have to insist on taking you to the station," He shrugged. "Protocol,"

Luther side, rubbing his forehead. "Okay then, can you gimme me a minute? To get him outta there?" Luther nodded to Klaus' room.

Rossi shrugged, but was surprised by Luther closing the door in his face. He sighed and threw his head back. "I could do with a coffee,"

Luther knocked lightly on Klaus' door. "Hey, you okay in there?"

"Is he gone?" Klaus asked. Luther frowned.

"Yeah, he's waiting for us outsi-"

Klaus whipped his bedroom door open. "Waiting, waiting where, why?"

"He's outside, we have to go to the Police Station, what is wrong?" Luther's eyes were wide, but his eyebrows were knitted together and his lip was curled.

Klaus scoffed. "I'm not going to the Police Station,"

"Klaus, Diego thinks that there's someone trying to kill us-"

"Good, it'd do me a favour,"

Luther grabbed Klaus by his upper arms, and Klaus felt his throat constrict on instinct. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop talking like that!?"

Klaus pouted. "Okay. I'm still not going to the Police Station,"

Luther groaned. "Why not?"

"Because Police Stations usually have Police in them,"

"What's wrong with the Police?"

Klaus snickered and covered his mouth. "Okay, you have no idea how funny what you just said was, but in all seriousness, Police and I don't exactly have a good history,"

Luther shrugged. "But your clean now, that shouldn't be a problem,"

A small, sad smile graced Klaus' cheeks. "Police officers kill people, Luther. And FBI kill the people who are too dangerous for the Police to kill,"

Luther swallowed thickly, his face softening. "How many were there?"

"Didn't exactly have time to count," He said sarcastically.

Luther shook his head. "I'll see if I can talk that guy out of taking us down there. We'll be fine on our own,"

Klaus shrugged nonchalantly.

Rossi felt his phone beep in his pocket. 'How many of you knew about the monkey?' Hotch had texted. Rossi couldn't help but snort.

Luther stepped out of the apartment, and Rossi turned to him. "Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"We're going to stay here," Luther said. Rossi looked at him as if he had grown another head.

"Are you out of your mind? Diego thinks you're a target, you need to go somewhere safe-"

"We'll be safe here," Luther insisted. "We can handle ourselves,"

"This person has murdered thirty one people," Rossi said incredulously. "What makes you think you're going to be any different?"

Luther squinted at him. "Diego... Diego never told you about us, did he?"

Rossi cocked his head. "What are you talking about?"

Luther smiled, rolling his head back. "Oh, this is so typical of him," He shook his head. "Look, we can take care of oursel-"

Rossi, despite being a couple feet shorter than Luther, practically shoved himself in Luther's face. "I don't care. I don't care about your macho man ego, or whatever the hell kind of family thing is going on with you and Diego, you are in danger and it is my. Job. To keep you safe. So get your butt. And your brothers butt. In my car,"

Luther groaned and twirled back into the apartment. After a brief moment of silence, Rossi heard Klaus' shriek of surprise from inside. "Luther! Luther put me down!"

Luther emerged from the apartment again, Klaus slung over his shoulder. "Do I need to bring anything else?"

"No, just your brother is fine," Rossi said, suppressing a laugh.

\---

Hotch pulled up outside of the Umbrella Academy, and took a moment to take the scenery in. The house was much bigger than he was expecting, and for a moment Hotch wondered just how big Diego's family was.

A woman with blonde, curled hair and red lipsticked smile opened the door. "Hello," she chirped serenely. "May I help you?"

"My name is Aaron Hotchner," Hotch said, shifting uncomfortably in the woman's presence. Something about her incredibly still face, perfect stature and... something about her eyes just felt off to him. And it creeped him out. "I'm the unit Chief of..."

The woman stared with a smile.

"I work with Diego Hargreeves...?"

The woman moved finally, clasping her hands together in front of her polka dot dress. "A friend of Diego's? Why don't you come in, and I'll go get him," She said.

"Is he here?" Hotch asked, carefully following the woman inside of the house. He couldn't help his eyes roaming over the elegant mahogany wood of the interior of the house, oil paintings and expensive antiques lining the walls. She lead him into an ornately decorated living room.

"Why don't you take a seat in the living room, and I'll make tea," She said, striding down the hall. 

Hotch barely had a chance to open his mouth before she was gone. He tutted, digging out his phone to look through the recent messages. He sighed and decided to take this opportunity to look around. The first thing he noticed was the large oil painting above a fireplace, of a boy in his young teens laying across a cushioned surface.

There was another portrait sitting near the back of the room. This was of a bearded man with a receding hairline, beside six kids in school uniforms and eye masks. Five boys, one girl. Hotch decided to venture closer, when he heard a soft male voice speak behind him.

"Ah, you must be the man looking for Master Diego?"

Hotch turned, and jumped out of his skin to see a chimpanzee in a suit and holding a cane before him. The chimp sighed at seeing Hotch's disturbed expression.

"By your face, I take it he hasn't told you about me?"

Hotch shook his head rapidly, taking a couple shaky steps away. The chimp gestured to the couch. "Perhaps you should sit down? You look like you might faint,"

Hotch fell down onto the couch, consciously aware of his own breathing. "Wh-who- what are you?"

"My name is Pogo," He replied, shifting his weight on his cane. "Would you like me to leave?"

"I..." Hotch hesitated. He shook his head. "Where's Diego?"

"He asked for some confidential records belonging to his late father. He said they were detrimental to solving a case you are working, on could save lives," Pogo said. "He should only be a moment,"

"Records? What records?" Hotch asked, trying to ignore the fact he was talking to a monkey.

Pogo hummed. "Why don't I go get Master Diego, then you can speak with him yourself?"

Normally, Hotch would jump on the chance to ask more questions, to gather more information, especially when these questions were now involved in their case somehow, but talking monkey was clouding his judgement, so he simply nodded dumbly. Pogo bowed lightly before padding away down the hall.

Hotch took that moment to throw his head into his hands. "What the fuck," He whispered to himself. He let himself panic for about two minutes, let the shock and heart-wrenching confusion just wash over him. And when he finished his little meltdown, he lifted his head up and sent a text to his team, praying for their sake that they hadn't known about the monkey.

He heard a faint rattle of delf. He looked up to see the creepy woman place a tray of tea on the table in front of him. She frowned slightly at Hotch. "Oh my. You look terribly shaken," She smiled, and picked up a teacup. "Tea helps with nerves," She said.

At this moment, Hotch prefered creepy woman over Pogo. So he took the cup from her, even though he wasn't going to drink it. He eyed her suspiciously. "Who- um... how do you know Diego?"

"I'm his mother," She said sweetly. Hotch raised an eyebrow.

"You look young enough to be his sister," He blurted out.

However, she simply chuckled, her eyes trailing off. Heavy footsteps thundering down the stairs alerted the two to Diego. "Hotch what are you doing here?"

"What the hell did you think you were doing running out of the Station like that without a word!?" Hotch growled, jumping to his feet. "Do you have any idea-"

Diego slapped a file to Hotch's chest. "This is a list of all of our victims, and anyone in that list who isn't dead is a target,"

Hotch held the file. "How do you know this?"

Diego gave a nod to the front door. "I'll explain on the way back to the Station. Thanks again Pogo," Diego said, and Hotch jumped again at seeing the chimp appear at the doorway.

Diego leaned over to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon Mom, okay?"

She smiled. "Okay,"

Hotch gave the woman a small nod of thanks, and after a few moments of deliberation, gave one to Pogo as well, before following Diego out of the house.

"I'm going to ignore the monkey," Hotch said. "Purely because I don't think I've really accepted that yet, so you are going to tell me right now, what is going on, and no avoiding it this time,"

Diego sighed as the two climbed into the SUV Hotch had brought, making a mental note to pick up his one later.

"On that day in October, 43 women gave birth out of nowhere," He said. "The women weren't pregnant, though. My father, I don't know how he knew about this, but he went around the world and tried to get as many of the kids as he could," Diego threw his hands up. "This is a list of all those kids,"

Hotch stared at Diego for a long time. "... this is insane,"

"Never said it wasnt,"

"So you're a target?" Hotch said. "And your siblings, they're like you, they were born that day too?"

Diego nodded. "I've already warned them to go to the Police Station," He pulled out his phone. "I should call them again, just to check on them.

Hotch sighed. "That explains why your sister ran away then,"

"What?"

"We didn't know where you went, so Chief Grey gave us the your families addresses," Hotch said, his anger still very much present in his voice. "Morgan went to your sisters place, but she ran, obviously thinking he was our UnSub,"

"Okay, I'll call her first," Diego said. 'Just in case she accidentally used her powers on him,' he added in his mind.

Hotch started up the car as Vanya answered. "Diego? Hey, listen I think that guy you told us about was at our apartment," She said, shooting a glance at Five.

"Yeah, was he like a discount Dwayne The Rock Johnson?" Diego asked.

"That's a disturbingly accurate description-"

"That was my co-worker,"

"Oh," Vanya said. "Then I may have overreacted,"

"It's fine, as long your safe. Where are you?"

"Me and Five are just pulling up to the Station now," She said, ignoring the glance from her taxi driver at Five's name. Five smiled innocently at him. Vanya glanced out the window. "I think I see Klaus and Luther too. D-"

Vanya was cut off, metallic screeching hurting Diego's ears. He held the phone away for a split second. "Vanya!?" He roared. "Vanya do you hear me!?"

The phone crackled, and lost connection. Diego cursed. "Something happened," He said breathless, and Hotch's only response was to floor it.


	4. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm literally screaming at all y'alls comments, thank you so much I'm so happy people are enjoying this, and that I've impressed those who were skeptical. Thank you so much for reading!

Vanya clamped her hands over her ringing ears, the taxi rocking and glass from the window beside Five exploding into their faces. She grit her teeth together against the pain. She felt, rather than saw, Five shifting beside her. She managed a glance up, to see Five fighting against his seatbelt, panting heavily.

"Five?" She croaked, but he either didn't hear her, or he was too panicked to listen.

Vanya forced herself to sit up, seeing the Police Station in flames from the broken window. Smoke billowed out, people screamed and clambered over burning rubble. She turned back to Five, and held him by the shoulders. "Five? Five look at me,"

Five froze. "It's okay," Vanya said. "You're not there,"

Five nodded, looking out the window. "Yeah. Yeah, there were no screams in the Apocalypse," He said.

Trust her family to be comforted by the screams of burning people.

She reached over Five, rattling the crushed car door. Five tore off his seatbelt and rammed his shoulder against it, but that did little else. Vanya smashed her palm against it with a grunt, the door flying off the hinges. The two scrambled out of the car, and Vanya had a better chance to look around.

There were more than a couple bodies scattered around the Station, undoubtedly more inside. She saw Klaus on his hands and knees, hacking up a lung. A vague, blue shadowed outline was dragging an unconscious older man with a goatee away from the debris. It was difficult to make out the details, but Vanya had met Dave enough times to recognise his Spirit. Another ghost was dragging Luther away. This man was too wide to be Ben, most likely a Police Officer who hadn't realised he died in the explosion, carrying out his duty to the very end. Klaus probably didn't even realise he was doing it. Five stumbled towards them.

A blond woman coughing on the pavement near Vanya struggled to get to her feet, the man who was at her house, Morgan, was trying to pull her up. "Sp-" She sputtered, gesturing to the burning building. "Spence. Spence!"

Morgan turned horridly to the flames. "Reid!" He cried, still struggling to pull the woman up. Vanya circled her arms around the woman.

"I got her," She said, Morgan giving her a confused look. "I got her," Vanya reiterated, and Morgan whispered a brief 'Thank you' before rushing into the building.

The woman in Vanya's arms retched, curling over. Vanya did her best to comfort her. "Hey. Hey, are you an FBI agent?" She asked, and the woman nodded. "Okay, well I'm Vanya. I'm Diego's sister,"

The woman looked up at Vanya, taking in deep lungfuls of air. "You need... to call an... ambulance..."

"Reid!" Morgan cried, picking up a long piece of fabric that had formerly been a coat and holding it over him. "Come on, Reid! Reid do you hear me!?" He coughed, barely able to see his way through the smoke. He spotted a vague lump of a figure sprawled across a chunk of brick. Morgan hunkered down, and rolled the body over.

It wasn't Reid. Morgan pressed his fingers about the officers neck. No pulse.

"REID!" Morgan screeched one last time, and he heard the faintest of gurgles in reply. 

Morgan snapped his head round to the sound, seeing Reid's body slumped over in a corner of rubble. Morgan rushed over, collapsing by Reid's side.  
"Reid!? Reid look at me!"

Reid lifted his head, blood on his lips. "M... Mor-" He coughed, growling through his teeth. His hand shakily wrapped around the steel beam protruding from his stomach.

"Jesus," Morgan breathed, pressing his lips together tight to hide his shock. "Hold on kid, I'm going to get you out of here," Morgan said, grabbing Reid's arm and draping it over his shoulders. Reid grabbed Morgan by the shirt.

"No-" Reid croaked, his nails digging into Morgan's chest and arm. "Morgan. Mor-I'm not gonna..."

"Don't talk like that," Morgan spat. "You aren't giving up on me kid,"

Tears streaked down Reid's soot covered face. "Go," He whispered. "G-go,"

"I am not leaving you!" Morgan roared through the smoke surrounding them.

"I-I can't move," Reid said, his voice quiet and wobbly. "Morgan you have to go,"

Morgan shook his head, the fire and determination in his eyes flickering like the flames behind him, his face curling and eyes burning with tears. "You are not dying here Reid, not today,"

The colour was drained from Reid's eyes, the grip he had on Morgan slipping away to a feeble weight resting on him. His adam's apple bobbed in his throat, trying to say something, but his voice was failing him. His body dropped forward, Morgan taking a hold of him by his shoulders, yelling and crying but Morgan didn't recognise of the noises he was making as words. Morgan cradled Reid's head to his chest, his fingers digging in to his neck enough to leave bruises, but Morgan felt a pulse, faint, weak. 

"They're taking too long," JJ sighed, her voice hoarse from coughing.

"The ambulance said they would be-"

"No, Morgan," She said. "He's not coming back out,"

Vanya stared at the building before her. She squinted, trying to see a form through the flames and smoke, but everything beyond the first door was too dark, too hard to see. Vanya took in a couple of deep breaths, listening to the crackle of the fire and letting it flow through her. Slowly, she let out the breath she was holding, the smoke erupting from the fire rising faster. Like someone had positioned a giant hoover in the sky, the smoke and flames was pulled upwards and sucked up into the clouds.

Five and Klaus, who were huddled over Luther and older man, watched in awe as the fire from the explosion was dragged into the air, various other survivors, mumbling in confusion. JJ's eyes widened slowly, her jaw hanging open. A million thoughts rushed through her mind, too many to make head nor tails of it.

The tires of an SUV screeched behind them, Prentiss shooting out of the car. "JJ? JJ what happened?"

"An explosion," JJ replied, covering her mouth as she began to cough. Prentiss frowned, looking at the fireless piles of rubble scattered everywhere, her bewilderment only growing at the charred bodies and soot.

"What the hell kind of explosion..." She trailed off, sirens wailing in the distance. JJ threw her hand out.

"Morgan and Reid are in there! I don't know if they're okay,"

Prentiss didn't need to be told twice and dashed into the Station, able to spot the two men faster now that the path was cleared. "Morgan!" She cried out, skidding to her knees by him. "Oh God... Reid,"

"He still has a pulse," Morgan said shakily. "B-barely,"

Prentiss lifted up Reid's face, her eyes hard. "You stay here, I'm going to get help," Morgan didn't do much to acknowledge her. Prentiss ran out of the Station again, just as two ambulances were pulling up. She ran to the closest one, flashing her badge at the medic who hopped out. "Agent Prentiss, there's an emergency inside the building, someone who has a punctured abdomen and are losing blood fast,"

The medic nodded, grabbing her colleagues and rushing off to where Prentiss had pointed. She went to follow, but JJ waving at her took her attention. "Emily! Reid, what happened to Reid?" She said, a medic trying to talk to her. JJ shrugged him off. "Emily, was Reid in there?"

Emily nodded. "He's..." Emily trailed off, the medic insisting on taking JJ to the ambulance due to smoke damage.

"Take someone else, I'm not urgent!" She yelled, before delving into a fit of coughing so hard she doubled over. Emily put her hand on JJ's shoulder, pushing her to the medic.

"Morgan is with him, now go with the ambulance," She said. Vanya caught Five's glance, and gestured to JJ climbing into the ambulance. Five nodded, turning to Klaus who was still curled on the ground, a medic checking over Luther and the other man.

"I'll go with you," Vanya said. "You can go back to your friend then?" She said to Prentiss. JJ nodded at Prentiss to let her know it was okay.

Prentiss turned back to the building, but was caught by the elbow. "Hey," Klaus said. "You're FBI? You work with Diego?"

"Yes, why?"

"Your friend Rossi is unconscious," He replied, and Prentiss looked past him to see Rossi on the ground, bleeding from a head wound. She cursed under her breath, glancing back.

There was nothing she could do for Reid now, and besides, Morgan was with him. She went to Rossi, who was being hoisted into an ambulance. After a brief explanation, she was able to get with him.

"You go with Luther," Klaus said. "I'll meet you later-"

"What?" Five snapped. "No, no way-"

"I'll be fine," Klaus said. "I'm used to stuff like this,"

"So am I," Five said. "You go with-"

"Excuse me medic?" Klaus said to one of the men loading Luther. "This is that man's underage brother, can you take him?"

"Klaus!" Five roared, but the medic coaxed Five into the ambulance. He glared at Klaus, but didn't protest. Klaus watched the ambulance drive off, wringing his hands together.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie," Dave said from his side. "Ben and I are right here,"

Klaus looked from Dave to Ben, both of whom were offering small smiles of encouragement. Klaus sucked in a shaky breath, and turned to the scene, doing what he was trained to do in Vietnam - help. 

It was less than ten minutes later, droves of ambulances were still turning up and taking as many people as possible (as well as some confused firefighters), when Diego showed up with his boss. Diego spotted Klaus and tore out of the car to him.

"Klaus! Klaus are you okay, where is everyone?" He cried, cupping Klaus' face before hugging him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Klaus said. "There was an explosion, a bomb I think. Luther was knocked out, but he's been taken to the hospital with Five and Vanya,"

"Five and Vanya, what happened-"

"They're fine too!" Klaus waved his hands. "Five was with Luther, Vanya picked up some blond woman, I think she was your co-worker," Klaus shoved his hands in his pockets and was about to say something when he saw Hotch approach. He swallowed. "I don't know how many people are on your team, but any who were conscious have probably gone to the hospital too,"

"What on earth happened?" Hotch said.

"A bomb," Klaus shrugged. "The guy whose hunting us?"

"Most likely," Diego said. He nodded at Klaus. "Hotch, this is my brother Klaus, Klaus this is my boss, Hotch,"

"You're Rossi's war buddy?" Hotch asked incredulously, and Klaus widened his eyes accusingly at Diego.

Diego pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right now, we need to regroup and figure out what to do next," He said. "We need to assume that this was done by our UnSub, who would have predicted all of us going to the Station at the same time,"

"Well, if this person thought that," Klaus said wide eyed. "Then wouldn't they think the most logical next step was to attack the hospital?"

Hotch squinted at the news Helicopter circling overhead. "They will if they watch the news and see you've survived," Hotch took out his phone. "I'll have the bombsquad sent to the hospital, just in case,"

The two brothers peered up at the helicopter. "Great," Diego sighed. "We need somewhere to lie low, and the hospital is compromised,"

"Diego?" Chuck Beaman called. His suit was darkened from soot, but he didn't have any cuts, or burns.

"Beaman," Diego smiled, shaking his hand. "I'm glad you're okay,"

"Yeah, me too," Beaman said. "This is insane. You think the guy you're after did this?"

"Yeah that's what we think," Diego said, and gestured up to the helicopter. "It's a long story, but if he finds out we're alive, then things are going to get worse, so we need to find a place to lie low,"

Beaman gave a lopsided smile. "I might know a place,"

\---

Morgan's head was hung low, his foot tapping rapidly on the ground. His arms had caught some shrapnel, but they were bandaged and otherwise fine. Doctors were rushing around, phones were ringing off the hook, people were being wheeled to and fro. Prentiss was waiting with Rossi, JJ was being checked with a doctor, Vanya had gone to find her brothers.

His phone buzzed in his pocket three times before he snapped out of his trance to notice. "Agent Morgan,"

"Is that anyway to greet your Goddess of Knowledge and Serenity?"

Morgan closed his eyes. "Garcia,"

"Why who else? Nothing new turned up on the newer vic's backgrounds, so I decided to do a little more digging into the Birthday thing that-"

"Penelope," Morgan said, and she stopped, hearing the the shaky gasp the man took in at the end.

"Morgan?" Garcia asked. "What's wrong?"

"There was an accident,"

"What kind of accident, is everyone okay?"

Morgan let out a deep breath through pursed lips. "Garcia... Garcia, Reid's in bad shape,"

Garcia held back her watering eyes. "How bad?" She could hear the man's deep and heavy breaths through the line. "Derek Morgan, How. Bad?"

"Really bad," Morgan said. "I don't-" Morgan cut himself off by crushing his fist into his head. "I don't know if he can walk away from this,"

Garcia heard the faintest of taps on her plastic necklace from the water dripping off the pool under chin. She scraped her manicured nails along her countertop, a sob racking through her chest. "What do you- How did- what happened?"

"Hargreeves just ran out of the Station!" Morgan yelled. "And we all went after him but Reid stayed behind, and now he's-" He caught a couple of doctors glaring at him, so he pulled himself back. "The Station exploded. A bomb. And Reid got caught in it,"

Morgan heard Garcia's sob, and bit his lip. "What about everyone else?"

"Rossi was knocked out, but he's awake now, just getting a look over. JJ has some smoke damage, Prentiss and Hotch weren't there when the blast happened," Morgan rubbed his forehead. "I think Hotch is with Hargreeves somewhere. I don't know, I haven't called him yet,"

"So... does he know about Reid?"

"I don't know,"

"Do you want me to...?"

"No," Morgan said. "No it's okay, baby girl, I got this," He spotted Rossi and Prentiss making their way towards him. "Okay I gotta go. Are you okay?"

"Just be careful and catch the bastard," Garcia said. Morgan hung up, Garcia smacked her fist on her table and screamed.

"Any word on Reid?" Prentiss asked.

"He's still in surgery," Morgan said.

"I got a miss call from Hotch," Rossi said. "Voicemail said they were sending bombsquad over to check the hospital out,"

"He thinks our UnSub is going to that far?" Morgan asked.

"Just a precaution," Rossi shrugged. "He also said that he found Hargreeves at the mansion, said he had a list of all the victim's and possible suspects,"

"How the hell would Hargreeves have that?" Asked JJ as she strolled over.

"JJ! How are you feeling?" Prentiss asked, Rossi and Morgan adding in their own words of concern.

"I'm fine!" She said. "Just a little smoke, that's all," She looked to Morgan and opened her mouth, but Morgan just shook his head sadly. 

"What happened to Diego's brothers?" Rossi asked.

"They should be here," JJ said. "Vanya - his sister - went to go find them,"

Morgan shook his head. "This doesn't feel right. Nothing about this feels right," He looked up at JJ. "You saw the way those fires went out?"

JJ's face was strained, her eyes were glassy and eyelids twitching. "Wind,"

"Wind doesn't pull fire into the sky JJ!" Morgan said.

"Well what the hell else could have done it?" JJ repeated desperately.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rossi said. JJ and Morgan hesitated.

"This is going to sound hard to believe," JJ said. "But after the explosion... something put the fires out. It was like the clouds sucked it up or something,"

"That's impossible," Prentiss shook her head.

"You were there Emily, there was no fire," JJ retorted. "How do you explain it?"

Prentiss licked her lips, taking in a deep breath. She let it out again and JJ nodded. "See?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Rossi said.

"Not right now is doesn't," Morgan growled. "But I guarantee this has got Hargreeves written all over it,"

"Diego wasn't even there," Prentiss said.

"I didn't say Diego," Morgan said. "I said Hargreeves. Diego thinks his family are targets, his family are involved in this. When I went to visit his sister, Vanya, she ran,"

"Diego warned her that someone was after her," JJ said. "She thought you were the UnSub,"

"She somehow managed to knock me over without touching me," Morgan said. "She just stomped her foot and the ground shook,"

"What, you think Vanya did this?" JJ asked, and Rossi waved his hand, making a noise as if he were gurgling a golf ball.

"Hold on a second here, do you hear yourselves?" He scoffed. "I mean you sound like those conspiracy theorists on Ancient Aliens, how did I get hit on the head and you're the ones talking about fire-eating clouds?"

"You didn't see it, Rossi," Morgan said. "When you went to the brothers, did anything seem off to you? Anything at all?"

"No," Rossi said, before rolling his eyes upwards. "Well. Klaus was a bit off with me,"

"How so?" JJ asked.

"He was just... off. Jittery, uncomfortable,"

"One tends to be, when you have someone is hunting you down," Prentiss said.

"No, he hadn't heard about that yet," Rossi said. "His brother Luther had just gotten the call," Rossi decided not to comment on Luther's size, as it was something the man was clearly insecure about, and had nothing to do with this anyway. "Diego told me that Klaus was an addict, but he got clean over three years ago. He's probably still struggling,"

"Wait a second, Rossi," Prentiss said, her eyes squinting at nothing. "Does Klaus have black curly hair, and a beard like yours?" Rossi nodded. "Does he have a tattoo on his shoulder with 'Gay Soldier' on it?"

"Have you met him?"

Prentiss stared at Rossi. "Rossi that man was like, 30!"

"He held up impeccably well," Rossi shrugged, and Prentiss just sighed.

"What about you, Prentiss? JJ? Anything weird?"

JJ rolled her neck. "Just that Diego used to live at the club, did matches from time to time. He moved out four years ago, apparently it was hilarious I never seen him with a knife,"

"A knife?" Morgan asked. JJ nodded.

"Four years ago?" Prentiss asked. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Remember how I said the bowling alley didn't like the the Hargreeves?" Prentiss said, looking to Morgan. "They said they were banned - the whole family - after an incident four years ago. They had to redecorate the whole place,"

Morgan cocked his head. "Didn't Diego say Eudora was shot four years ago?"

JJ, Morgan and Prentiss shared a look, but Rossi just sighed. "Excuse me one sec while I go call Buzzfeed Unsolved," He said sarcastically. Morgan glared at him and took out his phone.

"Any news on Reid?" Garcia said immediately.

"Not yet," Morgan said. "I need you to do something for me,"

"Anything,"

"Can you find out what day Eudora got shot?" Morgan said. "Sometime four years ago,"

"Yeah. Yeah okay, no problem, two seconds, let's see, it was four years ago, it was March 28th,"

"And the local bowling alley, something happened to that four years ago,"

"Okay let me see... on the 1st of April, there was a shooting," She said. "Apparently it was linked to a shooting in a donut shop and department store earlier in the week. And a lab that was destroyed,"

"Did anything else significant happen in that week Garcia?" Morgan said. "Specifically with Diego?"

"Ummm... oh. Oh my God,"

"What?" Prentiss asked.

"His father passed away a couple of nights before the first shooting in the donut shop," Garcia said. "And it turns out Eudora was working the case of the shootings,"

"I thought she was investigating Diego's brother's kidnapping?" JJ said.

"There's nothing here about a brother," Garcia said. "Just that Patch was following up on a lead," 

"None of this makes any sense," JJ shook her head.

"I just have one more question for you Garcia, when was Klaus born?" Morgan asked, and Rossi rolled his eyes.

"He was born... that faithful October day in 89 everyone is talking about,"

Everyone looked at Rossi. He tutted. "Okay, now I'm open minded to the idea that this family is weird,"

"Thank you Garcia. We'll keep you posted on Reid, okay,"

"Thank you," She said, and was gone again.

"We need to find out what the hell happened after Diego's father died," Prentiss said. "Something big happened, and now this is the aftermath,"

"I'll stay here and wait for Reid," JJ said. "I'm not allowed to leave the hospital anyway,"

"You should keep an eye out for the bombsquad too," Rossi said. "Call us if anything happens,"

"Of course," JJ said, however as soon as the trio began to leave, a doctor put her hand on Rossi's chest.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't allow you to leave,"

"Excuse me?" He said.

"You haven't been cleared to leave the hospital, please stay in where you are," She said, and Rossi gave her an exasperated glare.

"Look, it's fine," Prentiss said to him. "You stay here with JJ and Reid, and you can find Vanya and her brothers here to question them. Morgan and I have got this,"

"Okay," Rossi said. "I'll call Hotch then, let him know what's going on,"

And with that, Morgan and Prentiss left the hospital.


	5. Unknown Subject

Vanya sank down into a chair beside Five, who was holding his hands together tightly to prevent them from shaking.

"Hey," Vanya said. "Are you okay?"

"I counted approximately 12 people alive inside the Station after the fire went out," Five said. "The fires put out meant the medics could get them. Those people are alive because of you,"

That hadn't been what Vanya was expecting. She didn't really know what to say, but Five continued.

"You're alive. Luther and Klaus are alive. Diego wasn't in the blast. Allison, Mom, Pogo,"

"What are you doing?"

"Listing he good things," Five said.

Vanya nodded. "Can I add one?"

"Sure,"

"You're alive," She said, and Five cocked his head. She pursed her lips. "And Delores wasn't in the blast,"

Five smiled at her. "Thank you," 

"So Luther's okay then?"

Five sucked in a breath through his teeth. "He's fine, but he got some shrapnel in his arms and chest,"

Vanya rolled her head back with a groan. "So there's going to be some hairy questions,"

"...That was such a bad pun,"

"I'm trying to lighten the mood,"

"You should tell it to Klaus, he'll love it,"

Vanya sat up properly again. "Where is Klaus?"

"He stayed behind," Five growled.

"What, why?"

"No room in the ambulance," Five said. "I wanted to stay, but he insisted. Pulled the 'underage' card. Idiot,"

Vanya stared at Five. "You know, you didn't answer my question,"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

Five sniffed. "I'm fine. See? Just a couple cuts,"

"That's not what I meant," Vanya said. "You freaked out back there,"

"I said I'm fine!" Five turned away with folded arms. Vanya pouted, but then Five tapped her knee and stood up, looking at a doctor walking by. "You're the doctor responsible for Luther?" He called.

The man turned, frowning at Five. Vanya stood beside Five. "Luther Hargreeves? We're his brother and sister,"

The doctor sighed and glanced back at where he came from, before stepping closer. "I'm afraid your brothers injuries were more complicated than we thought,"

"What do you mean?" Vanya said.

The doctor sighed. "We can't find his medical history,"

"Our Mom is a doctor, she took care of us," Vanya said. "Why do you need it, what's wrong?"

"Luther's body appears to be much more susceptible to damage and infection than we're used to. Has he been sick recently? Had any major surgeries?"

"No, not that we know of,"

"Are you sure?" The doctor said. "We've seen what he looks like. No one is born like that,"

"There was an accident a few years ago, but we don't know the details," Five admitted. "He won't talk about it,"

The doctor licked his lips. "Okay. Not exactly what I was hoping,"

"He'll be okay though, right?" Vanya asked. "I mean, this isn't life threatening, is it?"

"Not at the minute," The doctor replied. "But I can't say for certain it will stay that way. I have to go, I'm so sorry," The doctor walked off.

Vanya stuffed her hands into her pockets and sank down into the seat, her eyes staring at nothing. Five glared as the doctor walked away. "We have to do something,"

"There's nothing we can do," Vanya said. "You know as well as I do, Dad never let Mom or Pogo write any of our medical stuff down, in case the wrong person got their hands on it,"

"There has to something!" Five said. "Something! We can't just sit here,"

Vanya cocked her head. Five turned away. "Stop looking at me like that,"

"This is out of our control, Five,"

"Don't say that!" Five cried, his voice cracking like the teenager he claimed he wasn't. He clenched his jaw and turned away again. Neither of them said anything, Vanya because she didn't know what to say, Five because he didn't want to.

\---

Rossi couldn't get through to Hotch, so JJ tried Diego instead. Every breath JJ took felt like claws raking her chest from the inside. She winced against it, pressing her phone to her ear. "JJ?" Diego answered. "How is everyone?"

She didn't know if Morgan's paranoia had rubbed off on her, if she was just angry over having heard no news on Spencer, if she was still scared and confused from the fire disappearing or if she genuinely was angry at him, but JJ hissed down the phone. "Where the hell are you!? Do you have any idea how childish and idiotic what you did was!?"

"Whoa whoa-"

"If you had of just talked to us, told us you knew what was going on, then maybe this whole mess would've been sorted out a lot faster," JJ snarled.

"JJ, I'm sorry but I-"

"Just tell me what the hell is going on!"

Diego sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It's a long story,"

"Don't you dare pull that bullshit on me!" JJ said. "Tell me. What the fuck. Is going on!"

"Okay okay!" Diego said. "Look, the gist of it is that there's 43 people who were born on the same day who are different. My dad knew about them, and tried to get as many as he could - my siblings and I the ones he got. Now our UnSub is hunting us down,"

"Different how?" JJ said. "Like Hagan?"

Diego hesitated, looking at Klaus sat on Beaman's couch. He was curled in on himself, glaring at Hotch who was E-mailing Garcia the list.

"Yeah. Like Hagan. And I think our UnSub predicted that we'd all go to the Station at the same time,"

JJ sucked in a deep breath. "Where are you?"

"A friends place, one of the Detectives at the precinct. Press was crawling around, we didn't want to risk the UnSub find out we survived,"

"Is Hotch with you?"

"Yeah he is, do you want to talk to him?"

"No," She growled. "No it's fine," and with that, JJ hung up.

"Why didn't you tell him about Reid?" Rossi asked.

"Because Diego is an asshole!" She said. "If he had of told us about this list before running off, we might have been able find our UnSub, stop the bomb, and then Reid wouldn't...! He wouldn't be lying there!" She hung her head, gripping her hair.

"You can't keep torturing yourself on the what ifs, JJ," Rossi said. "And that's a lot of ifs to go through to blame him for this,"

"This team is a family," JJ said. "He doesn't seem to get that,"

"He's only been on the team for a few months," Rossi said. "And by the looks of things... Diego's family is weird. You think he knows how to act in a family?"

JJ simply sighed and shook her head. Two men in black uniform strode up to the two of them, JJ recognised the bombsquad uniform anywhere. "Agent Rossi and Jareau?"

"Yes?"

One of the men leaned down slightly, and in a hushed tone said "We just wanted to let you know that the hospital has been cleared of any threat,"

"Thank you," JJ said with a nod and the two went on their merry way. "That's one emergency out of the way," She said, turning her head to the ER room.

"I'll go find the Hargreeves here," Rossi said, getting up and leaving JJ there. She barely registered it with a nod.

\---

Diego sighed as he put down his phone. "JJ's pretty mad," He said.

"Was anyone hurt?" Hotch asked.

"She didn't mention,"

"I can't get through to anyone," Klaus noted, putting his phone down.

"I think Vanya's phone broke in the blast," Diego said. "Luther might still be with the Doctor," Diego checked his watch. 2:57am. Everything that day had happened so fast that he almost forgot how much time had actually passed.

Hotch finished sending off the file, and sat down on the couch across from Diego. Klaus got up and marched to the kitchen where Beaman was making coffee. Hotch frowned.

"Ignore him," Diego said.

"You said you were different," Hotch said. "Like Hagan. So they were telling the truth?"

"Yeah," Diego said. "I know it's hard to believe,"

"I probably wouldn't believe it if I hadn't exchanged pleasantries with a Chimpanzee today," Hotch chuckled. "So if that's true, then...?"

"You wanna know what I can do?" Diego asked. "Beaman? You gotta knife I can borrow?"

Beaman's head appeared in the kitchen doorway. "...no..."

Diego gave him a strange look. "Come on, I just want to show Hotch,"

"Don't you carry your own knives?"

"I gave them up,"

Beaman's jaw dropped. "You really have changed. Never thought I'd see the day,"

Diego rolled his eyes, and Beaman fetched a knife and chopping board. "Don't ruin my apartment,"

He placed the board down against a wall, and handed Diego the knife. Diego flung the knife out to his side, curving in mid trajectory and burying it in the chopping board. Hotch jumped.

"... this is so weird,"

A hint of a smile crept onto Diego's face. "Yeah, this is all pretty weird,"

Someone knocked on the door. Everyone's head snapped up, and all three men slowly took out their guns. Klaus poked his head out from the kitchen, but Diego shooed him away.

With Hotch and Diego waiting behind Beaman, Beaman leaned forward and peered through his peephole. He frowned, and whipped the door open. "Patch? What are you doing here?"

"Eudora?" Diego sheathed his gun and wrapped his arms around her. "What the hell?"

"You think I'm gonna let you solve a case in this town without me?" She grumbled, and when Diego pulled away, he could see why. She had bags under her eyes, and she reeked of coffee.

"Did you drive all the way down here?"

"Yep,"

"We love twelve hours away,"

"I was going to stop at a BnB for the night," she said, stumbling into the apartment and collapsing on the couch, waving at Klaus still hiding in the kitchen doorway. "But then I heard... on the radio," she looked up sadly. "How many?"

"Death tolls at 62," Beaman said. "And climbing,"

"Jesus," she whispered.

"And this is your guy? What does he want?"

Diego folded his arms. "... We think he's after the 43,"

Eudora's eyes widened, before turning hard and standing up. "Then what the hell are you still doing here!?"

"I'm here to find the son of a bitch trying to hurt my family," Diego said.

"I've been thinking about this, Hargreeves," Hotch said. "I think you should be taken off the case,"

"What!?"

"You're a target," Hotch said. "You and your family need to be taken into protective custody,"

"Where? There's no police station!"

"We'll find a place," Hotch said.

"You can't take me off the case, Hotch," Diego said, his tone more akin to a warning. "I'm too involved in this already,"

Hotch's phone rang. He sighed. "We are going to gather your family and take them somewhere safe, and you are all going to stay there until we catch our UnSub,"

Diego rolled his head backwards, but didn't argue as he answered his phone.

"Hello Garcia,"

"Sir, did you read through all these files when you sent them to me?"

"Not all of them," Hotch frowned. "Why?"

"... Reid's on the list," She said.

Hotch felt his heart stop for a brief second, the feeling apparent as Diego and Patch were watching him closely. Hotch licked his lips. "Does Reid know this?"

For a few minutes, Garcia was silent. "Did... Morgan not call you?"

"No," Hotch said. "Why, did something happen? Hargreeves just got off the phone with JJ, and she hadn't said anything,"

Diego stalked closer to Hotch. Garcia bit her lip to stop it from quivering.

"Hotch, sir... Reid was caught in the blast... he's been in surgery this whole time..."

Hotch felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under him. He wobbled on his feet, and Diego stiffened in preparation to catch him, but Hotch straightened himself out again. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Morgan said he would call you," Garcia sobbed. 

"What about JJ? She was just talking to Hargreeves a few minutes ago, why didn't she say anything?"

Garcia hesitated. "I don't know, sir, I really don't,"

Hotch rubbed his eye around the socket. "Is everyone still at the hospital?"

"JJ and Rossi are,"

"Okay, call them and let them know about Reid, he's a target now too," Hotch said and Diego's head reared back.

"Okay, but uh, sir?"

"Yes?"

"I believe I may have found our UnSub," 

\---

"I'm looking for the Hargreeves," Rossi said, flashing his badge at a receptionist. "Was one of them admitted here?"

"A Luther Hargreeves has just been taken out of surgery," The man said after checking the computer. "However he's in critical condition, and quarantine,"

"Quarantine?" Rossi said.

"Yes sir," The receptionist said. "No one is allowed in contact unless authorised,"

"What about his family? There should be a Klaus and Vanya waiting for him,"

The receptionist shook his head. "I don't know anything about that, people in waiting rooms aren't recorded,"

"Well can you check who rode in the ambulance with him?" Rossi said.

After a few minutes, the receptionist shook his head again. "Sorry, no report of anyone by those names, according to the medic in charge of them, the only other person in the ambulance was a teenage boy who refused to give a name,"

Rossi groaned. This whole thing was making his head swim. Everytime he came close to getting an answer, he just ends up with another question. Whoever the kid was, the likelihood he knew what happened four years ago was slim, and if he did, he probably wasn't told any of the finer details. He could try questioning the kid, or do a cognitive interview, but an interview after four years would blur the events, and wouldn't be accurate. Rossi sighed.

"Is there anyway I can get authorisation to question Luther Hargreeves?"

"Talk to Dr. Ferdinand, he's the overseer of Mr. Hargreeves, but I highly doubt you will," The receptionist said, before giving Rossi Dr. Ferdinand's details. Rossi thanked him, and found Dr. Ferdinand striding to Luther's room.

"Excuse me, Dr. Ferdinand? My name is Agent David Rossi with the FBI, I need to speak with your patient,"

"No way, not happening," Dr. Ferdinand said. "My patient is under extreme precaution, and I cannot allow any external contaminants,"

"I believe it may help us who caused the bombing of the Police Station," Rossi pressed. "It's vitally important,"

"Vitally?" Dr. Ferdinand scoffed. "Well it's vital to Mr. Hargreeves that I keep him in quarantine,"

"It's just a few questions," Rossi said. "If I don't ask them and there's another explosion, then people who die in that one will be on your head,"

"And if my patient dies because I let you talk to him, then his death would be on my head too,"

Rossi cocked his head. Dr. Ferdinand growled and stomped over to a cabinet, fishing out a surgical mask. "You have five minutes, and don't stare," he said, opening Luther's door for him. Rossi put the mask on and nodded stepped inside.

And gasped audibly. Luther was laying on the bed, oxygen mask over his face, drips and clips sticking into his arms and machines beeping. Bandages were patched over his shoulders and chest. However, it was the wrinkled and bulbous grey skin and scraggly hair that covered Luther's entire arms and torso that made Rossi stop in shock.

Luther looked at Rossi's wide eyes and turned away sharply. Rossi cleared his throat. "Mr. Hargreeves, I-"

"Is my family okay?" Luther asked, without looking at him. "The doctors won't tell me anything," 

Rossi shuffled over to a seat by Luther's bed. "I haven't spoken with them yet, but they weren't in any of the hospital records,"

Luther turned fearful eyes to him. "Which means?"

Rossi frowned. "It means they weren't admitted, they don't have any serious injuries," Luther let out a breathy sigh of relief.

"Mr. Hargreeves, I only have a few minutes, can you answer some questions for me?" He asked, and when Luther nodded, said "Can you tell me what happened four years ago? Around the time of your fathers funeral?"

Luther smiled slightly. "You said you only had a few minutes,"

"So I'd rather not waste time,"

Luther closed his eyes. "First tell me why you're asking me this,"

"Because I am," Rossi said sternly. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you,"

"Oh really? Because I just found out the man I served with in Vietnam was born 20 years after the fact," Rossi said.

Luther looked horrified. "You served with Klaus?"

"Yes," Rossi sighed irritably. "And I only have three minutes left, so if you wouldn't mind answering my first question?"

When Luther glared, Rossi sighed. "We think it might be connected to whoever is hunting you,"

Luther's eyes widened marginally. "You're absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes," Rossi said with a squint.

"Where's Vanya?"

Rossi sighed. "Mr. Hargreeves, if you're not going to answer my question-"

"I am," Luther hissed. "If this is connected to what happened four years ago, then you have to get Vanya somewhere safe,"

"Why Vanya?" Rossi asked. "What happened?"

"The Apocalypse," Luther replied. "The Apocalypse was supposed to happen four years ago. We stopped it,"

Rossi stared at Luther in disbelief, feeling as if every muscle in his body had simultaneously decided this was the last straw and stopped working. After a brief moment, Rossi remembered he was on the clock and jumped back to reality.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Time travel is possible," Luther said, his breath quickening. "We had to stop the Apocalypse-"

"Time Travel?" Rossi repeated. "That's impossible,"

"Then how do you explain Klaus?" Luther retorted. "He accidentally time travel to the past, that's how he ended up in Vietnam for ten months,"

Rossi searches his memories of the war, every instance that involved Klaus, his face, his friends, his name, anything to find a discrepancy in what Luther had just said but... he couldn't. He didn't remember any details, of course he didn't, but he had only known Klaus a little bit, he hadn't been close with the man so he couldn't make sure.

But he was born in 89. And so far, this was the only explanation that made sense.

Dr. Ferdinand opened the door. "Times up,"

"I just need a few more-"

"No!" He roared. "Out!

Rossi growled to himself, but didn't argue.

"Get Vanya somewhere safe," Luther called after Rossi. "Please,"

Rossi gave Luther a nod before Dr. Ferdinand slammed the door shut. He glared at Rossi until Rossi walked away, tearing the surgical mask off his. He heard his heartbeat in his ears, his hands were shaking by their sides.

Time travel was possible. He had met a time traveller. And the world nearly ended.

Rossi pushed himself out onto a void smoking area, practically throwing himself against the wall of the balcony. And promptly lost his mind. 

\---

"Agent Jareau?" Asked a doctor, and JJ jumped up with a nod.

"Dr. Reid is out of surgery, but not out of the woods I'm afraid," He said sadly. "He's still in critical condition,"

"Can I see him?" She asked, and the doctor nodded, leading her to Reid's room.

JJ sat down beside Reid, unconscious and pale on the hospital bed. She gripped his forearm, hanging her head with a sob. "Don't you dare die on me Spence," she said. "You're not done yet, you haven't done all the things you said you wanted to. You still have work to do here. Henry still wants... his favourite godfather... to show him that magic trick..."

JJ jumped when her phone rang. "Garcia?"

"Hey JJ," Garcia said. "Any news on Reid?"

"He's out of surgery but still in critical condition," JJ said. "I'm with him now,"

"That's good," Garcia nodded. "JJ? Reid's on Diego's list,"

JJ's heart stopped. "What?"

"He's on the list, he's a target now, but it's okay, I found our UnSub," Garcia said. "Her name is Jane Marshall. Her sister died in childbirth, she was one of the mothers on the list. The baby died before Diego's father, Reginald, could find them. It was put up to SIDS, but I don't think that's the case anymore,"

"That's horrible," JJ said. "She murdered a baby? A newborn baby?"

"Yeah," Garcia said, her voice just as shaky as JJ's. She swallowed. "Her father was in the military, but he was discharged after a bomb went off early and he lost his left leg. He died sixteen years ago. All of the victims up until then weren't numbered,"

"Which explains why we couldn't find the victims," JJ said. "And Jane was following her father's MO and teachings the whole time,"

"I've sent out an A.P.B on her,"

"Good work Garcia," JJ said. "Sent me a picture of her too. She might try to swing by the hospital if she finds out Reid survived,"

"Of course," Garcia said. "Look after him, won't you?"

"Of course," JJ said, and hung up.

The door of the hospital room opened up, and a woman with blonde curly hair stepped in. She saw JJ and froze. JJ frowned.

"It lied again," The woman said. "How did it lie again?"

JJ stood up slowly, hand subtly reaching for her gun. "Ma'am? May I help you?"

"It never lied before," She growled. "Why are you here?"

JJ's phone beeped in her hand, confirming her suspicions. JJ pulled out her gun, but Jane ran away. JJ burst out of the room in time to see the woman crash into a doctor - the same doctor who had stopped Rossi from leaving the hospital. The two women fell to the ground, but the Doctor climbed on top of Jane, straddling her.

JJ fished out a pair of handcuffs, taking over from the doctor. "Jane Marshall, you are under arrested for the murder of 31 people, and the bombing of Michigan Police Station," JJ said, fastening the cuffs. She looked up at the doctor, who was wiping blood from her busted lip.

"Thank you, Doctor...?"

The doctor gave JJ a stoic look, shoving something in her pocket before walking away. JJ frowned, but turned back to Jane and finished reading her rights.


	6. Who The Hell is Jane Marshall?

Morgan and Prentiss stopped by the Mansion first. Prentiss knocked, and after a few moments of no answer, knocked again. Prentiss quirked an eyebrow at Morgan.

"It's a big house. Hargreeve's mother is probably asleep,"

"And the monkey," Morgan said, peering around corners. "Don't forget about the monkey,"

Prentiss chuckled, before frowning. Beyond the frosted glass of the door, a small light illuminated a shadowy silhouette moving around. She waved at Morgan, who jumped back into the steps, watching the short shadow slowly approach the door.

"So she's not asleep," Prentiss said. "And she's..."

"Shorter than you thought?" Morgan finished, the door opening and revealing a chimpanzee in blue striped pyjamas, hat and all. Prentiss and Morgan blinked.

"May I-"

Morgan shrieked and jumped a couple steps backwards. Prentiss made no change in movement, but her face looked like that of someone who had just been stabbed in the back. Pogo sighed. "You are friends of Master Diego?"

Neither of them moved. Pogo moved away from the door. "Come on in," Slowly and tepidly, Prentiss and Morgan followed Pogo inside. "I've heard of these wondrous advances in technology called mobile phones," Pogo said, leading them to the living room. "You should invest in one,"

"You're...?" Prentiss trailed off.

"You may call me Pogo," Pogo said. "And I'm assuming, since you are calling in middle of the night, that this is an emergency,"

"We uh..." Morgan said, before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Is there someone else we can speak to...?"

"Grace - Diego's mother - is resting I'm afraid. I would rather not disturb her," Pogo replied.

"Oh," Morgan said. "Okay then... well... Prentiss you say something now,"

Prentiss jerked. "Ah, well... we just weren't expecting..."

"I understand," Pogo said. "Why don't I make some coffee while you come down from your shock,"

Pogo shuffled away, and Morgan ran both hands over his head. "This is it, this is where I go insane Emily,"

"Alright, take it easy," Prentiss said, tapping the air. "Just focus, okay? We came here to investigate Hargreeves. Now, we're here alone. So try looking around,”

“Okay,” Morgan said, nodding. “Okay. Okay, uh… there’s a painting of a kid on the wall. He was the one who lives with Vanya,”

“Why single him out?” Prentiss said. “Because he’s the youngest?”

“Uh… I don’t think so,” Morgan said, picking up a small photograph of six kids standing side by side. They all wore masks, but one of the kids was definitely the one in the painting. “I’m really hoping that this kid isn’t like a reborn Klaus or something,” Morgan said, handing the photograph to Prentiss.

Prentiss pushed her tongue against her cheek. “This isn’t Vanya,” Prentiss said, pointing to the girl in the photo. “This must be the sister whose an actress. But why isn’t Vanya in the photo?”

“Why is that kid covered in blood? And is that kid holding a knife?” Morgan asked, before he and Prentiss looked at each other, at the same time saying “Diego?”

Prentiss held the photo closer to her face, trying to pick out any smaller details. She squinted. “This is a newspaper print out,” She said, turning the frame over and pull out the sheet of paper.

“On 8th of January, 2002, a team of crime fighting children swept the nation by storm,” Prentiss read. “The children of Billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves snuck into Mayfair Bank during a robbery and dealt with the criminals using the unique gifts they were born with, such as altering reality using a ‘rumor’, and spacial jumping. The children were not named, but rather announced to the media by their father as ‘The Umbrella Academy’,”

“What the hell,” Morgan whispered. “You mean… Diego’s been doing this since he was a kid?”

“And what, he has powers?” Prentiss said. “So… The Hagan’s… they were telling the truth?”

“This doesn’t tell us what happened four years ago,” Morgan said.

“No, but it does help to know that the Hargreeves were famous when they were kids,” Prentiss said, placing the photo down. “And that they were vigilantes. It would make sense that someone would be after them, some sort of petty revenge,”

“That doesn’t explain the kid,” Morgan pressed. “Or Klaus. Or Vanya. Or the everything else!”

Pogo cleared his throat, and the two agents jumped. “Is there anything I may be able to help with?”

Morgan and Prentiss looked at each other as Pogo set down the cups of coffee. Prentiss gave a nod to the painting. “So… whose the kid?” She asked, sitting down on the couch, but Morgan chose to stay standing, as far from Pogo as he possibly could.

“Number Five,” Pogo replied, sitting across from Prentiss. Prentiss hung her head with a groan.

“Why is he called that?”

“He was the only one who didn’t wish for a name,” Pogo said, cocking his head. “On the children’s eighth birthday, Grace gave them nicknames. Before then, they were called by their numbers,”

“Wait, does Diego have a number?” Morgan asked.

“He is Number Two,” Pogo replied with a nod.

“Jesus Christ,” Prentiss said. “What the hell was this place? Why?”

“The children are incredible,” Pogo said. “And they were meant for great things,”

“So you numbered them?” Prentiss snarled. “You forced them out to fight dangerous criminals when they were just kids? Gave Diego knives and told him to hurt people, is that it?”

Pogo reared his head back slightly. “This is what their father had told them to-”

“Did Diego ever kill someone?” Prentiss asked. When Pogo didn’t answer, her lip twisted. “How old was he? Fifteen? Sixteen?”

“... Thirteen,” Pogo replied sadly. Prentiss stood up and twirled away, head in her hands while Morgan glared at Pogo, forcing himself to keep his churning stomach still. 

“What happened four years ago?” Morgan ground out. Pogo shuffled his hands.

“I’m not the best person to ask,” Pogo replied. “Perhaps you should be directing these questions at your co-worker,”

Before either of them could reply, Morgan’s phone rang. He continued to glare at Pogo as he answered. “Hey JJ,”

“Hey Morgan, I have good news and good news,” JJ replied.

“Oh thank God,” Morgan sighed. “Reid?”

“Out of surgery, but still in critical condition,” She replied.

“Are you there with him?”

“Not at the minute,” She said. “Because the other good news is that we have our UnSub in custody,”

“What? Already?” Morgan said, glancing at Prentiss.

“Yeah. The only problem is, with no Police Station, we have to hold her in a closed waiting room, which we can’t have for long since the hospital is swamped,”

Morgan groaned, blocking off the end of the phone and repeating JJ’s message to Prentiss.

“We have a holding cell here,” Pogo replied.

“Why do you have a holding cell?” Prentiss sighed desperately.

“The sooner you stop asking questions, the easier it will be to accept the answers,” Pogo said. “Would you mind helping me get it ready? It hasn’t been occupied in some time,”

“Great,” Prentiss said, shooting Morgan a look.

“Where’s everyone else?” Morgan asked.

“I got a call from Hotch and Hargreeves, they’re on their way here. Rossi went to question the others who are already here,”

“Okay, can you gather everyone and send them over to the Mansion. There’s a holding cell here,” 

“Excu- what? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Morgan shook his head, defeated. “I don’t know anything anymore,”

With that, Morgan hung up, and JJ sighed. She was sat in front of Jane Marshall, who was handcuffed to the chair she was sitting on.

“This is uncomfortable,” Marshall hissed.

“You would have a much comfier seat in the Police Station,” JJ growled back.

“You don’t understand,” Marshall said. “You don’t know what those things are,”

“I understand your nephew was a baby,”

“A demon,” Marshall hissed. “Fatherless. Spawn of the devil,”

“Yeah I know what a demon is,” JJ replied, folding her arms. “You’re not the first messenger of God I’ve met, sweetie,”

“They will cause the end of times,” Marshall said. “I’ve seen it. It was shown to me,”

“Shown to you how?” JJ asked boredly. Marshall closed her mouth. JJ rolled her eyes.

“My friend is in serious danger because of you,” JJ said. “He is no demon. He’s spent his whole life in the FBI because he wanted to help people. But you don’t see that, do you? You don’t look at the people you’re killing, you’re hurting. You don’t care if they’re mothers, fathers, doctors, or anything. All you see is a target,”

“I see the truth,” Marshall stuck her nose in the air. “And by letting these monsters live, you are dooming us to an eternity of fire and darkness, you… you who shall become a horseman to the Apocalypse,”

JJ just rolled her eyes again, but paused. She turned back to Marshall, making her eyes as kind as possible. “Jane? You said ‘The end of times’ was ‘shown’ to you. What did you mean by that?”

Marshall glared, her nose still stuck in the air.

“It wouldn’t happen to be the thing that ‘lied’ to you, would it?”

Marshall shifted uncomfortably.

“Jane,” JJ said. “If you show me… I might believe you,”

She shook her head. “No. No it-” She cut herself off, curling her lip and growling at JJ. JJ sighed, and the door to the closed waiting room opened, Hotch stepping inside. JJ stood up and left.

“You got Marshall?” He asked.

“She came into Reid’s room,” JJ said. “And a Doctor managed to tackle her to the ground, not me,”

“Reid’s room?” Hotch asked. “So he’s okay?”

“Still critical,” She sighed.

“Care to tell me why I had to find out through Garcia that he was here in the first place?” Hotch growled.

JJ’s hand grabbed the necklace on her chest. “Hotch… I am… so sorry-”

“A member of my team is in critical condition, and near death, and none of you thought it was okay to call me?” He hissed.

“I was angry-”

“That is no excuse,” Hotch said. “The reason we work as a team is because we’re like a family,”

JJ looked up at him.

“Don’t ever hide things from me again,” He said, and JJ nodded.

“Now tell me what exactly happened at the Police Station,”

JJ sucked in a deep breath. “When the blast went off, Morgan ran into the Station to get Reid out. Diego’s sister Vanya had just arrived, she was helping me. I can’t remember how long they were in there for, but I know it was too long, and I said so to Vanya. And then… the next thing I know the fire was…” She swallowed. “This going to sound hard to believe, but the fire disappeared. Like it was pulled into the sky,”

Hotch shook his head. “It’s not hard to believe. It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen all day,”

JJ crooked an eyebrow at him, but Hotch just shook his head again. “The receptionist told me have to move Marshall soon?”

“Yeah, apparently The Hargreeves Mansion has a holding cell we can move her to,”

“Of course it does,” Hotch groaned. “Okay, I’ll get Marshall, you go back to the others over there,” He said.

JJ nodded and made her way over to where everyone else was waiting. And by everyone, she meant everyone - Diego, Eudora, Detective Beaman, Klaus, Rossi, Vanya and the teenage boy who had been with Vanya. Rossi looked… like a ghost. He’d been shaken up by the explosion, sure, but this was different. He was just staring out at space. Eudora was struggling to stay awake, Beaman was pacing, Klaus was standing by a wall as far from the others as he could, and Diego was sat with the rest, talking over what had happened. 

Rossi was the first to notice JJ approach. “Hey. You okay?”

She nodded, and Diego cocked his head at her. “Why didn’t you tell me about Reid?”

JJ sighed and ignored him, slumping down into her seat. Diego rolled his eyes at her. “Just answer me one thing. Please. Who did the fire thing?”

“The fire thing?” Diego said.

“That was me,” Vanya said solemnly. “I’m not… used to it yet, but I wanted to help,”

JJ took in a shaky breath. “Reid probably would be dead if you didn’t. Thank you,”

Vanya shrugged, and Hotch emerged with Marshall in tow. Marshall glanced around the room, her face pale as she saw the Hargreeves all together. “Don’t put me with them,” She hissed. “Not with those demons,”

Klaus snorted. “That has to be the only name I haven’t been called ye- oh wait, no. No I have, never mind,”

“We’re taking her to the Mansion, because it has a holding cell,” Hotch said, leading her away.

“No!” Marshall protested. “You’re not taking me into that house! It’s their hearth, the home of that monster!”

“I’m going to stay here, wait with Luther,” Vanya said.

“Luther’s going to be in quarantine for 24 hours,” Five said. “You’re better off coming home. You need a rest after everything,”

Vanya smiled. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one looking after you?”

“No,” Five replied, following Hotch, Vanya behind her.

Eudora gently placed a hand on JJ’s shoulder. “Reid’s not going to change anytime soon. You should come back too,”

JJ shook her head. “No, I have to stay. I have to make sure he’s okay,”

“If anything happens, the hospital will call us,” Diego said. “You need your rest. I’m not taking no for an answer,”

Everyone else followed Hotch out of the hospital. Rossi slowed down to fall into step beside Klaus. “So… I heard about the whole… time travelling thing,” Rossi said. “That’s ah... “ He looked over to Klaus, who was gritting his teeth and hugging himself. “Are you okay?”

Klaus snorted. “No. Can’t you tell?” He grinned.

“Do you have someone to talk about this with?” Rossi said.

“What are you talking about?” Klaus said, throwing a look over his shoulder.

“Someone to help you,” Rossi said. “I’ve lived a long time. And Vietnam? That was a long time ago. But not to you,”

Klaus shook his head. “All the sad Vietnam war vet stories have been told. No one cares anymore. And even if they did,” Klaus scoffed and rolled his shoulders. “When I try to find someone who’ve been, they kick me out because I was too young to be there,”

Rossi’s fists clenched at his sides. “Well, I’m not kicking you out,”

“Thanks,” Klaus smiled. “But that’s going to work. You see, I can talk to dead people,” He turned to Rossi, expecting shock, or any change in expression, but after hearing about time travel and narrow avoidance of the Apocalypse, little could surprise the man right now. So Klaus simply nodded his head backwards. “And right now, every person you’ve ever killed is looking at me like a sirloin steak,”

“Phones are a thing,” Rossi shrugged. 

Everyone piled into cars and SUV’s that were parked outside of the hospital, Hotch respecting Marshall’s wish and not letting her with any of the Hargreeves, though that was because it’s illegal for her to be placed with a civilian. And also, he didn’t want her hurling obscenities at them.

When they arrived at the house, Pogo had changed back into a suit, and had fresh coffee’s waiting for everyone as they came inside. Marshall was immediately led into one of three holding cells in the basement. Hotch fetched her a glass of water, and sat down in front of her.

“I don’t want to be here,” She said, shaking her head. “Not here. Not in the home of the monster,”

“These people aren’t monsters,” He said. “They had no choice in their birth. They simply lived their lives. Who are you to bring their judgement?”

Diego, JJ, Morgan and Prentiss were waiting just beyond the waiting cells, arms folded and listening in on their conversation. Everyone else were either taking a nap in the spare bedrooms, or sitting in the livingroom and chatting.

Marshall shook her head. “You don’t know what you do, you don’t know what’s going to happen-”

“And you do?” Hotch said. “I heard from my colleague, that you said you saw the truth?”

“I did,” She said desperately. “I saw it, I saw the White Violin,”

Diego jerked forward, but stayed with his team, who looked in his direction. “What?” Morgan asked. “What’s the White Violin?”

“She’s talking about Vanya,” Diego said, squinting.

“Can you tell me what you mean?” Hotch said.

The woman smiled smugly. “Only if you let me go,”

“I can’t do that,”

“Please,” She begged, wiggling in her seat. “Please I can’t stay here, not here, this is-”

“The house of the monster,” Hotch rolled his eyes. “You’ve already said that, and if you say it again, I’ll add verbal assault of an agent to the list of your crimes,”

“Him?” Marshall said, looking at Diego. “No, I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about the thing, that thing with the monster, The Horror,”

Diego stalked towards the bars. “Well you don’t have to worry about him. He died,”

Marshall turned sharply to Diego. “I know!” She hissed. “I know because we didn’t think fire was enough. I know because the last memory I have of my father was him teaching me how to wire a bomb - before you killed him! He was doing this world a favour, and you-”

“You killed Ben,” Diego gasped, barely registering the sound of JJ’s hands clapping over her own mouth. “... you… you k-k-kill…”

“He was a monster,” Marshall hissed, before the door of the cell whipped open, and Morgan wrapped his arms around Diego’s chest to stop him from charging at her.

“You’re the monster!” Diego screeched. Morgan and Prentiss struggled to haul him away. “You’re the monster he was just a kid!” 

“He was the confirmation that everything we were doing were for the right reasons!”

Diego struggled against Morgan and Prentiss with all his might, and despite the fact the he could have easily taken them down, something in the fact of his rage-blinded mind reminded him that these people were his friends - and he didn’t want to hurt them.

Klaus and Beaman came thundering down the stairs. “What’s going on?”

“This bitch killed Ben!” Diego cried. “She was there! She- she-” Diego reached around Morgan’s waist, snatching his gun. Klaus surged forward as Prentiss and Morgan fought against Diego.

Klaus grabbed Diego’s wrist, shoving it upwards. “You kill her and she’ll haunt you!” Klaus roared in his face. “Do you want that? For Ben to see her, everytime he looks at you?”

Tears streamed down Diego’s face, lips and eyes contorted in an ugly expression of grief. “Sh-she.. Sh-she k-k-k-”

“I know,” Klaus said, Prentiss and Morgan slowly stepping away from Diego. Morgan gently slipped his gun from Diego, as Diego collapsed in Klaus’ arms.

Klaus looked over Diego’s sobbing shoulder’s at Ben. He had fallen to his knees, screaming and crying, reliving in his head the day he had died. Dave wrapped his arms around him, in an effort to comfort Ben. This had happened before, and judging by the fact that Ben’s sobs had quieted down, he knew Dave had been helping. They’d been helping each other a lot.

Diego pulled back, rubbing his fist under his eye and glaring at Marshall, who had backed up fearfully against a wall, Hotch standing protectively in front of her.

Diego took few moments to calm down, before looking behind him. “Beaman. Can you stay here and watch Marshall?”

Beaman frowned but nodded. “What’s up?”

“I just” He gently pushed Klaus towards the door. “I think it’s about time I gave my friends a family history lesson,”

“Okay but don’t make me sound like a dick,” Klaus said, marching up the stairs.

The team left Beaman in the basement, and headed up to one of the larger offices in the house, picking Rossi up from the living room on the way and dropping Klaus off there to sit with Five. 

Diego sat down on a chair, waiting for the rest of his tired posse to situate themselves somewhere comfortable, and to call up Garcia.

“Basically… my father was the biggest asshole to ever live…”


	7. The Death of Jane Marshall

"-So Five decided to take us all back in time," Diego said. "But like I said, his equations are wrong. He had expected to take us back to when we were kids, but we only ended up half a day back. Before Vanya destroyed everything, the house, our Mom, Pogo. And we wanted to do things right this time. So when she woke up, we just told her everything.

"But we still had the problem of the Commission coming after us. They were going to attack us wherever we went, so we went back to the bowling alley. They lost the element of surprise, and we had our escape plan if things went south. We managed to take them,"

"So how have you managed to keep the Commission off your back?" JJ asked.

"I don't know," Diego shrugged. "They just... stopped sending people to kill us. Luther thinks it's because they know they can't beat us, but I just don't know,"

No one said anything, even Garcia who had a witty remark for almost everyone. Diego sighed. "I know it's a lot to take in,"

"No shit," Prentiss scoffed. "I mean... time travel aside, the Apocalypse?"

"Yeah," Diego laughed. "So, now you know why I'm this fucked up,"

"You could've turned out a lot worse?" Garcia offered cheerfully, and Diego couldn't help but laugh.

"Thank you Garcia," He said.

Hotch sighed and rubbed his temples, glancing out the window at the brightening sky. "It's been a long, weird day. You should all get some rest. Maybe we'll feel more... coherent, after some sleep,"

After a few mumbles of agreement, the tired band of agents got to their feet.

"I'll call the hospital, see if there's any news on Reid," JJ said.

Diego gestured down the hall to where the spare bedrooms lay, before turning back down to the living room. His eyes were sore and probably red, he felt like as though all the weight in his body had slid down into his boots, but nevertheless, he dragged himself into the living room, where Klaus had kipped on the couch. Diego sighed and picked up a couch throw that had been tossed on the ground and put it over him.

He turned back to leave, but hesitated. He looked around the hallway to make sure no one was around, before resting a hand on the door frame. "... I'm really sorry you had to see that Ben. I hope it wasn't too much, I... goodnight,"

Ben watched Diego leave from his spot on the couch. "Goodnight Diego," He whispered to himself, a big smile plastered on his face despite knowing that Diego couldn't hear him.

The next morning, Hotch was first up. Always the night owl and early riser, he made his way down to the kitchen, making a few phone calls to organise Marshalls transfer to the next closest Police Station, where she'll be interrogated properly. 

He heard humming coming from the kitchen, and peered his head around the open doorway to see Grace at the stove.

He knew now why she gave him the creeps - Diego had told them she was a robot. But the way he spoke about her, like she was the only parental figure who actually cared about him, crushed Hotch. He told them how she was the one who taught him how to overcome his stutter, that only resurfaces when he's upset. Like when he found out Marshall had killed Ben.

Grace turned around, and spotted Hotch with a smile. "Good Morning. You're up early aren't you? You had a late night last night,"

Hotch cleared his throat. "Yeah, no rest for the wicked," He chuckled nervously. "You're up even earlier,"

"Well, when I heard we had a full house, I knew everyone would be in need of a hearty breakfast to get them through the day," Grace chirped. "It's not often we have so many guests,"

Hotch nodded dumbly, fixing the sleeve of his shirt and making himself a coffee. He glanced over his shoulder at Grace, humming away. He jumped at seeing a flash of blue light, Five appearing at reaching in front of him for the coffee tin. He gave Hotch a nod in greeting.

"You know, just because I know about everything, doesn't mean I'm exactly comfortable with this,"

"That's not my problem," Five replied, making his coffee. "What did Diego tell you exactly?"

"Everything," Hotch said. "Vanya's powers, time travel, the Apocalypse," Hotch noticed the way Five paused for the briefest of seconds at the mention of the Apocalypse. Five took his coffee and sat down, smiling up at his mother when she placed a plate down in front of him. He took out a notebook and scribbled as he wrote.

"Is that... you time travel equation?" Hotch asked, sitting across from him. Five sighed.

"Yes. But it's not what you're thinking,"

"You don't want to know the secrets of time travel?"

"To put it in simple terms," Five snarked, and Hotch understood what Diego meant when he called Five condescending. "If I correct the equation, there is a possibility I may be able to get my old body back,"

"You... want your old body back?" Hotch asked with a cock of his head.

"Fuck living another fifty years," Five grumbled, taking a bite of toast and turning back to his work. "I don't want to have to bury these fuckers again,"

Five and Diego had a lot in common, Hotch realised. Hiding their true feelings and care in a mask of arrogance and nonchalonce. Hotch smirked slightly. "How old are you?"

"Physically or consciously?"

"Both,"

"17, 62" Five replied, before chuckling. "I am simultaneously older and younger than my siblings. Well," Five frowned. "Except for Ben. I don't think people age in the afterlife,"

Hotch didn't say anything for a few minutes, simply watched Five twirling the pen in his fingers. Finally Hotch spoke up. "Did Diego... tell you about Marshall?"

Five frowned, a mouthful of food. "That she was a nutcase?"

"That her father... was the one who killed your brother Ben..."

Five made no movement. “Did she have anything to do with it?”

Hotch shook his head, and though Five still hadn’t moved, Hotch still saw the dark shadow growing in Five’s eyes. “You know, for a profiler, you’re a terrible liar,”

Five hopped out of his chair, but Hotch managed to snatch his wrist before he spacial jumped.

“Let go of me,” Five hissed.

“I can’t let you kill her,”

“Of course not,” Five rolled his eyes with a scowl.

“Ben haunts Klaus, right?” Hotch replied, a sentence he never thought he’d say and meant it to calm someone down. “If anyone kills her, she’ll always be here,”

Five scowled harder, yanking himself from Hotch’s grasp. “So what’s going to happen to her? She’s just going to walk away, to live her life like normal?”

Hotch frowned. “She’ll be going to prison,”

Five scoffed. “Same thing,”

“Five?” Grace asked, with a small cock of her head. “Is something wrong?”

Five fixed the collar of his shirt. “I just lost my appetite,” He said, and jumped. Hotch rushed to the holding cells, but found only Marshall asleep on a cot and Beaman asleep in a sitting position. Hotch let out a relieved sigh, and tapped Beaman, to tell him to take a nap upstairs in a spare bedroom.

Hotch took a seat, as Marshall stirred. She saw Hotch, and let out a weak, happy groan. “Thank God it’s you and not one of those demons,”

“Consider verbal assault of an agent added to wrap sheet,” Hotch said.

“How long am I going to stay here?”

“Just a few more hours,” Hotch said. “I’ve organised with Merian Street Police Station to have you transferred there, before your trial is organised. There, you can be interviewed properly,”

Marshall laughed. “You don’t have to interview me. I confessed. I’m proud of what I did. Of what my father and I did. We were cleansing the darkness, how can you not see that?”

Hotch ignored her question. “It’s not a matter of whether or not you did it. We need to ask why. Why burn the hearts-”

“To burn the devil, and make sure they don’t re-enter our world,”

“-Why put numbers on the victims, why make it so easy for-”

“I didn’t number them,” Marshall said. Hotch narrowed his eyes at her.

“I didn’t number them,” She said, the confusion apparent in her voice. “Why would I do that? Why would I make it easier for you to catch me?”

“To taunt us,”

“Taunt?” She scoffed. “I couldn’t care less about your opinion of me. I work for God. For his divine grace. Not my own ego,”

Hotch didn’t want to believe her, but it was true, putting numbers on the bodies didn’t fit in with Marshall’s motive, doesn’t fit the profile. But if she didn’t, who did?

\---

One by one, everyone woke up and trickled down the stairs, grabbing coffees and food. Morgan stepped outside into a courtyard, stretching his arms above his head. He felt a little grungy, as he had slept in his clothes, but otherwise felt okay.

Diego was sat on a small, raised pillar in the middle of the courtyard, by an oak tree and a fountain. Morgan stalked over to him, and Diego acknowledged his presence with a glance. Morgan read the bronze and gold plaque nailed to the pillar.

“Ben Hargreeves”

Morgan looked back at Diego. “Is this his grave?”

“There was nothing to bury,” Diego said.

“Right…” Morgan replied, shifting his weight uncomfortably. Diego sighed and lolled his head back.

“There was a statue here. Wasn’t the most accurate, but it was still him,”

“What happened to it?”

“Got into a fight with Luther at Dad’s funeral,” Diego said. “He-... we knocked it over,”

“I’m sorry,” Morgan said, perching himself on the pillar with his back to Diego. Diego shrugged.

“It’s not so bad. Apparently Ben didn’t like the statue,”

Morgan chuckled. “But like you said. It was still him,”

“Yeah… it was still him,”

“You know,” Morgan folded his arms. “I don’t know anything about losing a sibling. But when I was a kid, I saw my father get shot in the line of duty,”

Diego crooked his head slightly, just enough to see Morgan in his field of vision. But Morgan didn’t say anything else. Just stayed there. And Diego couldn’t help but think back to the case with Nick, when JJ told him about her sister.

It’s just nice to know someone has gone through what you have. That you're not alone. 

\---

JJ called the hospital yet again, but Reid’s condition had yet to change. “He’s lucky to be alive,” The doctor had said. “Be patient,”

JJ bounced her leg from her spot on the couch. It’s hard to be patient when your best friend was near death. Vanya stepped into the living room, her eyes softening when she saw JJ. “Hi. How are you feeling?”

“A little sore, but I’m alright,” JJ said.

“And your friend?” Vanya sat down in front of her.

“There’s no change,” JJ said.

“At least he’s not worse,” Vanya offered, and JJ nodded. Vanya rubbed her forearm. “I’m really sorry to ask, but could I use your phone? To order a taxi. Mine broke yesterday so…”

“Yes, of course,” JJ said with a smile and handed the phone over.

After less than a minute, Vanya hung up with a sigh. “Road’s blocked, can’t get through. Guess I’m stuck here for a bit,”

“Could be worse places,” JJ shrugged. “Listen. Thanks again, for what you did at the Police Station… If it weren’t for you, Spencer might not even be alive,”

“Doesn’t really make up for destroying the entire world though, does it?” Vanya said.

“You don’t have to make up for anything,” JJ said. “From what I heard, if anything in that week had changed, then nothing would have happened. And from what I heard, Leonard was a bastard,”

Vanya flinched, and JJ grimaced. “Oh I’m sorry,” JJ said. “Sensitive subject?”

“Yeah, a little,” Vanya said, her cheeks burning red. “I know I should probably open up about it but…”

“Not until you’re ready,” JJ said. “Don’t force yourself,”

Vanya smiled meekly, when Hotch strode into the room. He spotted Vanya and greeted her with a nod. “JJ, can you gather everyone? There’s something we need to discuss,”

“Is this going to involve us?” Vanya asked.

Hotch hesitated. “I would advise you remain in the house, where it’s safe,”

“Oh,” Vanya gulped. “I’ll go find Five and Klaus then. Make sure they don’t run off somewhere,”

Hotch nodded, and let her off. “What’s going on?” JJ asked.

“I think Marshall may have had an accomplice,” Hotch said. “Or rather, a saboteur,”

Hotch found Prentiss and Rossi drowning their sorrows in coffee in the kitchen, and Hotch sent Prentiss down to watch over Marshall. JJ found Morgan and Diego in the garden, and on her way back in, found Patch and the newly awoken Beaman. They met in the living room once more, and Hotch explained the situation with the numbers.

“Okay,” Diego said. “So is the saboteur on our side?”

“If they were on our side, they would have called us, left an anonymous tip,” JJ said.

“But they weren’t on Marshall’s side,” Morgan said, sat on the couch with elbows on his knees. “Whoever this saboteur is, they wanted us to find and connect the bodies,”

“So, they wanted you to investigate?” Eudora said.

“But just numbering bodies wouldn’t ensure that this specific team would get the case,” Beaman said.

“Then they weren’t looking for this specific team,” Rossi said.

“No, no they had to be,” Diego said. “I’m too close to this case, whoever this saboteur is, they wanted me here,” 

“That just leaves one question,” JJ said. “How the hell did they know-”

JJ was cut off by the sound of gunshots and Prentiss’ scream.

\---

One bullet hit Prentiss in the calf, one in her shoulder. She collapsed to the ground in agony, and managed to writhe herself into a sitting position, leaning on the wall. A group of men in full head masks with rifles stormed into the room. One approached Prentiss, the barrel pointed at her face.

“We aren’t here for you. Stay down, and you’ll live,” The man said.

Prentiss growled, turning her head to the frightened Marshall in her cell. Two of the gunmen pushed her against the wall, patting her down and searching her pockets. “It’s not here,” One of the men said. “Where is it?”

“I-I-I don’t know- I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Marshall sobbed. “I don’t know where it is!”

One of the men turned to the other. “What do we do?”

“Our orders were confiscate or eliminate,” The other replied. “Since we can’t confiscate…”

Marshall’s scream of protest barely escaped her throat before a five bullets were buried in her head and chest. Her body fell to the ground. 

The man pointing the gun at Prentiss, lowered it. “Smart girl,” He said, a kitchen knife curling mid-air and burying itself in his throat.

All three remaining gunmen turned to the door, emptying their magazines into it.

Diego was pressed against the wall, bullets flying past his face, but not close enough to find their target. He held up two more knives when the gunfire ceased, and hurled, two more screams signalling more men to fall.

The remaining gunman in the cellar pointed his gun at Prentiss. “Show yourself, or she’s dead!” He proclaimed.

Diego growled to himself, and stepped into full view of the gunman, holding his knives up harmlessly. The gunman was looking in Diego’s direction - his mistake. With her good arm, Prentiss pulled out her gun and shot him. She dropped her hand with a groan.

Gunfire was still heard throughout the rest of the house.

“What the hell?” Prentiss gasped as Diego stooped down to her.

“Commission,” Diego said. “No idea how many were sent. I’m going to carry you to the infirmary, but I’ll need you to cover me, okay?”

“No way, I can walk!”

“No you can’t,” Diego said, picking Prentiss up bridal style. She cried out, but clutched her gun close.

“Ready?”

“Just go!” Prentiss snapped, and Diego jogged as fast as he could up the stairs.

Hotch and JJ were crouched behind an overturned table, taking turns peaking out to fire a shot. A flash of blue, and Five was crouched between them.

“Give me a gun,” He said, holding out a hand.

“Excuse me!?” JJ said.

“I’m better, give me a gun!”

Hotch growled and shimmied up his trouser leg, handing Five his secret gun. Five nodded. “Not bad,”

Five jumped behind the one of the three gunmen that had taken refuge behind various types of furniture. He turned in time to get a bullet in the face, his dead body then taking hits from the other two who turned to take out Five - who had jumped yet again.

Five’s next target had obviously been much smarter than his comrades, as he turned before Five appeared, firing a bullet and grazing Five’s shoulder. He growled and fell back. The man shifted forward slightly, raising his gun just in time for JJ’s bullets to take him out. Five turned his head to JJ, nodding his thanks to her.

In the hallway, Diego had just reached the stairs, where Rossi, Eudora and Beaman were covering Grace and Pogo to the infirmary. Pogo was tugging Grace’s arm in an effort to make her crouch. 

Prentiss clutched her bleeding shoulder. “I’m losing a lot of blood,” She whispered. “I think I might… lose consciousness…”

“We’re almost there,” Diego said, hunkering down behind Beaman, who was behind a pillar himself. “Just hold on a little bit,”

Prentiss grit her teeth with a nod and threw her arm out, firing a couple of shots. Eudora and Rossi covered themselves behind a pillar opposite them, Pogo and Grace had ducked into the supply closet under the stairs. Diego gently set Prentiss down in a safe position.

“There’s too many of them!” Eudora growled.

“We just need enough time to make a break for the infirmary!” Diego yelled back.

“Please tell me this house is boobytrapped!?” Rossi said, and Diego shook his head.

Prentiss’ gun clicked, and she groaned. “I’m out,” Diego took the gun from her and hurled it at one of the gunmen, hard enough to knock him off his feet.

Meanwhile, Morgan had gone to find Vanya and Klaus. Klaus was huddled in the library, his hands clamped over his ears, as two gunmen tore apart the shelves. Morgan ducked behind a desk, gesturing wildly to get Klaus’ attention. Finally, Klaus managed to look up and see him. A book exploded two inches from his face, and he shrieked, falling backwards. Morgan stuck his head and arm out, hitting a gunman in the chest. Klaus picked up a book and threw it at the other, distracting the two enough for Klaus to slide in behind Morgan.

“Have you got a plan?” Klaus asked, the wounded gunman scooting behind a couch.

“No. Does this house have any secret passageways?”

“No,” Klaus scoffed.

“Well then can’t you use your power or something?”

“I’d rather not because I get really bad acid reflux, and besides, Ben doesn’t really like murdering people,”

Morgan threw Klaus a desperate, yet exasperated look. “... Then I guess we’re in an old fashioned shoot out, aren’t we?”

Klaus looked around the room to try and see if he could find anything to use, pressing his hands against his ears again. Flashes of Vietnam, of blood and dirt streaked across his mind, but he forced them out.

And he spotted a fire extinguisher on the wall. He glanced back around, the uninjured gunman crouched over his friend as they opened fire on the wooden desk, which was rapidly on it’s way to no longer being useful cover. Morgan scooched back slightly, trying to keep out of eyesight.

“Cover me,” Klaus said, throwing himself at the wall to grab the fire extinguisher and crawl back to Morgan. With one shared glance, the two hatched a plan.

Morgan and Klaus knocked the table over and Klaus roared, spraying foam over the gunmen and Morgan emptying his clip into the white cloud. When the extinguisher was quenched, the two men lay motionless. Morgan and Klaus shared a smile, and a fist bump.

However, a new hail of bullets from the lower level cut their celebrations short. The two made their way to the landing, peering over the banisters to see a horde of gunmen aiming down the hallway at their friends. “Shit,” Morgan cursed and raised his gun, but Klaus grabbed his arm and turned him towards a thick, steel wire.

Morgan shot the wire, and the chandelier above the gunmen came crashing down on top of them - the three who hadn’t been taken out by the falling lights were thrown in shock. Beaman, Eudora and Hotch picked the off.

“Are you guys okay?” Klaus called, and Diego gave him a little salute.

Diego scooped up Prentiss. “Time to get you to the infirmary little miss,”

“Don’t… call me that…” Prentiss sighed with a smile.

Hotch ordered Klaus, Five and Rossi who had sustained a couple nicks himself, down into the infirmary, while he, JJ and Morgan scouted the Mansion for Vanya and any Commission stragglers.

Prentiss grimaced as she was lowered onto the medical bed. “They killed Marshall,” She hissed as Grace tended to her.

“She deserved it,” Five growled, begrudgingly letting Pogo look at his shoulder. “That doesn’t answer why though,”

“They were looking for something,” Prentiss said. “They wanted something Marshall had, but they couldn’t find it on her,”

“What the hell could she have that the Commission wants?” Rossi wondered.

“My guess,” Diego said. “Is that it’s the same thing that ‘showed’ her the truth. That ‘lied’ to her,”

“A device made by the Commission,” Five said. “That shows the future,”

“But if it’s lying, then maybe it’s malfunctioning?” Klaus suggested.

“Working or not,” Five said. “How did Marshall get it?”

\---

Hotch cleared the left wing on the first floor when his phone rang. “Garcia? Is something the matter?”

“I’m afraid so,”

“Reid?” He asked fearfully.

“No,” Garcia said. “One of the surviving members of the 43, a Michael Troy, was reported missing today, along with his wife and six year old daughter,”

Hotch groaned. “I really hope these two incidents aren’t connected,”


	8. The Doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I cried writing this, so I'm sorry  
> (But also thank you for all the lovely comments and kudos <3)

"You're sure?" Diego said, hanging his head. Everyone was down in the infirmary, Prentiss doped up on morphine but still awake.

"I'm sorry," JJ croaked. "We couldn't find her anywhere,"

"I'm going to go look one more time," Diego said, pushing himself off his seat.

"Me too," Five said, but Eudora stopped them with a shake of her head.

"Vanya's not here," She said. "We have to assume that the Commission took her,"

"They couldn't," Five growled. "Vanya is stronger than that, she has better control of her powers, there's no way any of them would get close enough,"

"If it will ease your minds," Pogo said. "I can check the security tapes, to see if they caught what happened to Miss Vanya,"

Diego nodded, and Pogo shuffled up the stairs.

"There's something else," Hotch said. "I just received a call from Garcia. One of the last of the 43, a man named Michael Troy, went missing yesterday, alongside his family,"

Everyone in the infirmary groaned. "So let me recap here," Rossi said, his voice shrill. "We have an outside source leaving numbered notes on Marshall's victims, the Commission have killed Marshall for a broken device that sees into the future - that she didn't have - took Vanya, and now Troy is missing," He shook his head. "It feels like every time we make headway in this case, we're being pushed back another step,"

"We should find out what Troy's power was," Prentiss said. "It might give us an idea on what happened to him,"

"Troy going missing might not have anything to do with our case," Morgan said before sighing. "But knowing our luck..."

"I'll have Garcia look into Troy," Hotch said, taking out his phone.

Diego checked his watch, and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need to pick up Luther in a couple hours. How the hell am I going to explain all this to him?"

"If you can explain Time Travel to Morgan, you can explain anything," Prentiss chuckled, and Morgan shot her an offended glare.

"I'll go with you," JJ said, but Diego shook his head.

"No, if the Commission attacks again for some reason, then we need all hands on deck, especially with so many of us after taking hits," He said, gesturing to Five and Prentiss. "Let's not forget how you were all in an explosion yesterday,"

"Don't worry," JJ said. "My throat isn't letting me forget,"

"I'll check on Reid, okay?" He said, and JJ nodded.

The doorbell rang, and every pulled out their guns simultaneously. Including Five, who still had Hotch's gun, and Prentiss. Hotch gestured for JJ and Diego to follow him as they stalked down the hallway.

JJ squinted at the shadowy outline through the frosted glass. Hotch carefully opened the door, revealing a woman in a white blouse and black slacks.

JJ recognised her as the doctor who stopped Rossi and tackled Marshall.

Diego recognised her as Cha-Cha. "Who the hell do you think you are coming here!?" He snarled, raising his gun at her.

"I just came to talk," Cha-Cha said, holding her hands before her.

"Bullshit," Diego spat. "That's Cha-Cha,"

"You're Cha-Cha?" Hotch asked incredulously. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting for a Time-Travelling assassin, but the last one he met was 17 years old. Cha-Cha was just so... normal.

"So you've heard of me, huh?"

"You were the one who helped me get Marshall into custody," JJ said, holding her gun ready, but not pointing it at Cha-Cha. "I'm assuming that wasn't a stroke of luck,"

"No," Cha-Cha said. "I was helping,"

"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you right here and now," Diego said.

"I'm on your side here,"

"A reason I would believe,"

"I'm the one who put the numbers on Marshall's victims," Cha-Cha said. "How about that?"

Diego glared at her, before glancing around at Hotch and JJ.

"She helped bring Marshall in," JJ said. "I think we should hear her out,"

"Why would she come back here, knowing you'd all be out for blood?" Hotch said.

Diego growled, and lowered his gun. Cha-Cha dropped her hands with a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. May I come in?"

"Before you do," JJ said. "When we were at the hospital, you took something of Marshall's. What was it, and where is it?"

Cha-Cha dug through her pocket and held up a chain, with something dangling at the end.

"A monocle?" Diego said.

"Not just any monocle," Cha-Cha said, tossing it to Diego. Diego caught it and inspected it, seeing the small "R.H" engraved on the rim.

"My Dad's monocle?" He said.

"Now may I come in?" She said. "I have a lot to explain,"

"You're damn right you do," Diego growled, and led her inside down into the infirmary. Five and Patch immediately drew guns, but Diego explained what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm just going to chill over here if that's okay," Klaus squeaked, moving as far into the corner of the infirmary as he could.

"Please do," Cha-Cha said. "I tortured a lot of people in my career, but you? You broke me. I mean, what kind of a man gets a boner over waterboarding?"

"It was the strangulation, actually," Klaus corrected.

"There's a mental image I never wanted to see," Five said. "Hello Cha-Cha. Long time, no see,"

"Number Five," Cha-Cha nodded. "Is it just me, or did you have a growth spurt?"

"Can we get back to the matter at hand please?" Hotch said. "Why are you helping us, if you work for the Commission?"

"I don't work for the Commission any more," Cha-Cha said. "I was nothing more than a pawn to them, a stepping stone to causing the Apocalypse," She curled her lip. "And they planned to let me die in it too,"

"So why now?" Hotch said. "Why interfere with Marshall?"

"Time is fickle," Cha-Cha explained. "You go to the same week in time too many times, then it starts to effect space too. Could cause a warp, or an implosion,"

"I thought that's what they wanted," Morgan said. "To destroy the world?"

"Earth, yes. But not the Universe,"

"So you've been going back in time and putting numbers on the victims," Rossi said. "So that we'd get the case?"

Cha-Cha nodded. "And so that the knife rack over there would connect the dots, and run out of the station,"

"Which means the rest of us wouldn't be there for the explosion," Hotch finished. "Couldn't you have gone back in time and just, destroyed the bomb?"

"I don't know anything about bombs," Cha-Cha said. "And I had a close call with the Commission two weeks ago. My briefcase was destroyed. I've been working from memory since then,"

"Before your briefcase got destroyed, how many time jumps did you have left?" Five asked.

"Just two," Cha-Cha said. "But the Commission has used one to send their guys here to look for the monocle. But, since there's only one left, they'll be too scared to use it,"

"Why do they want the monocle?" Diego asked. "How did she get the monocle, how did Dad get it?"

"The timeline is new," Cha-Cha said. "Time is relative, and after the Apocalypse was prevented, a new timeline started, that ran alongside the same time as the Commission's timeline. They can't predict the future, because it hasn't happened yet,"

"But the monocle can?"

"About a week ahead," Cha-Cha said. "That's about the total of time I've traveled back,"

"How did Dad have the monocle?" Klaus asked. "Did he... steal it from the Commission?"

Cha-Cha licked her lips, and folded her arms. "I didn't know this when I came here four years ago... but causing the Apocalypse was a mission than had been in the works for a long time. It was difficult, intricate. A vast chain of events that had to be executed perfectly, anyone out of place and the whole thing falls apart... So they employed the best of the best, to go on a 30 year mission, to-"

"He worked for the Commission," Five said with a nod. "Of course. Of course he did,"

Diego fell into a cushioned bench, his eyes wide and staring at nothing. The rest of the room fell silent, until weak exhaled puffs of breath delved into a fit of laughter. Everyone turned to Klaus, who was struggling to hold in his laugh.

"Is this funny to you?" Diego snapped.

"Yes," Klaus giggled. "It is, it really is. The old man wasted thirty years of his life, and even died, trying to raise kids to cause the Apocalypse, and he failed!"

Everyone stared at Klaus like he was delirious, before Five let out a chuckle himself. "Okay that's kind of funny,"

Eudora sat down beside Diego. "Diego... are you okay?"

"We need to find Vanya," Diego said. "That's all that matters right now,"

Eudora looked up at the rest of the BAU. 

"Marshall said the monocle was lying," JJ said. "That was just you?" Cha-Cha nodded. "How can we be sure the Commission won't make another jump? That they already have, and the monocle is lying again?"

"We can't be sure," Cha-Cha said. "But the Commission have Vanya. And they're going to try to cause the Apocalypse again,"

"Why?" Prentiss asked. "Why do they want to end the world so badly?"

"More time, means more time to monitor. More monitoring means more workers, which means more wages to pay,"

Everyone waited for Cha-Cha to finish, but she already had, and they gawked. "You mean the Commission wants to end the world so they don't have to pay their workers!?" Eudora gasped.

"Capitalism," Klaus shook his head. "The cause of all our problems," 

"Vanya's not going to cause the Apocalypse again," JJ said. "It's not in her,"

"You know Vanya?" Cha-Cha scoffed.

"Better than you," JJ replied with a scowl.

Cha-Cha pursed her lips. "Maybe that's why they snagged Michael Troy,"

"You know who Michael Troy is?" Hotch asked. Cha-Cha nodded.

"One of the 43, the power of Mind Control,"

"Mind Control?" Rossi repeated. "So their plan is to make Troy control Vanya's mind? That's ridiculous, what sort of a person would willingly help destroy their own world?"

"If they have someone to protect," JJ said. "Destroy the world and live somewhere safe in the past, or don't and we'll kill your wife and daughter,"

"We have the monocle," Diego said. "We have the upper hand, we can predict their every move,"

"Unless the Commission does actually use the final jump," Hotch sighed.

"So, we take that chance away from them," Diego said. "Five can jump. He can't jump back, that would count as two. So he needs to jump forward,"

"Great plan, he's the only problem," Five said with a smirk. "It's too risky. My equations are wrong,"

"You haven't spoken to the kid yet?" Cha-Cha said. "The genius, one of the feds?"

"You mean Reid?" Asked Morgan.

"Yeah. He's intellect is his power, he's smart enough to fix Five's equations,"

"What!?" Five cried, leaping out of his seat. "You mean the secret to Time Travel is in a hospital bed?"

Cha-Cha shrugged. "Yeah. When is he getting out?"

Everyone exchanged glances. "He was..." Morgan said.

"We don't know," JJ said. "He's still in critical condition,"

Cha-Cha rolled her head back. "Oh great,"

"We have until midnight to come up with a plan," Diego said. "They can't do anything until the moon is-"

"Kill him," Cha-Cha said, cocking her head to the side. "Reid. We should kill him,"

"Excuse me!?" JJ cried incredulously.

"If he dies, then Haley Joel Osment over can talk to him," Cha-Cha said, gesturing to Klaus. "He fixes the equation, Five jumps-"

"We're not killing Reid!" Morgan roared. 

"Well then, best start saying Goodbye to everything,"

"There is no way in hell I am letting anyone with an ounce of that intention anywhere him," Hotch growled. "I'm sorry, but there has to be another way,"

"You could jump back instead?" JJ said. "A couple of years, before any of this-"

"The last four years have been frazzled with me trying to keep the Commission off my tail," Cha-Cha. "The only way to go is forward,"

"We're not killing Reid," Prentiss said. "We're not going to kill Reid, over some maths!"

"Maths that could save the world," Five protested. Diego glared at him.

"Since when are you on her side?" Diego snarled.

"Since she started making sense," Five said. "What's one life compared the rest of humanity?"

"He's more than just a life," JJ hissed. "He's our friend,"

"Oh boohoo," Cha-Cha snarked. "This is the only way to ensure the Commission don't use the last jump,"

"We'll put it to a vote," Five said. "All those in favou-"

"We're not voting over whether or not someone should live or die," Hotch said.

"Al those in favour," Five re-iterated, glaring at Hotch. "Of killing one person in order to save humanity, raise your hand," Five raised his hand.

With a roll of her eyes, Cha-Cha raised her hand. Eudora sighed and raised her hand, Beaman copying. Diego growled and joined them. JJ shook her head.

"Diego, no please,"

"The world is at s-s-s-.. s-st-stake, JJ," Diego said.

"Not you too," Morgan croaked at seeing Rossi's hand in the air.

"You know as well as I do what Reid's opinion on this would be," Rossi replied.

"That's why we're the ones making the choice for him," Morgan growled through watery eyes. 

"It's Six against Five," Five said. "In our favour,"

"No, she shouldn't get a vote!" JJ said, jabbing a finger at Cha-Cha.

"What ever happened to thanking me?" Cha-Cha said.

"You're trying to murder my best friend!" JJ screamed.

"JJ," Diego said softly. "I am so sorry. But this..."

"What about Garcia?" Prentiss said. "Surely she gets a vote in this?"

"Oh for God's sake, what does it matter?" Cha-Cha growled. "He's probably going to die anyway,"

JJ made to rush at Cha-Cha, but was immediately stopped by Hotch's arm shooting out in front of her.

Diego stood up, refusing to meet any of his teammates eyes. "I have to go. To pick up Luther. I'll ask to get Reid transferred here too," 

"Don't you dare," Prentiss hissed, but Hotch waved her down and followed Diego out into the hallway again.

"Diego if you go through with this, I'll have you thrown off the team,"

Diego spun on his heel to face Hotch. "You think I care about my career right now? Someone is about to force my sister to end the world, I am about t-t-to c-c- to con-condemn m-m-m-" Diego growled to himself, squeezing his fists closed. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I don't want to do this," He said. "But we have to. You know we do,"

When he opened his eyes again, Hotch's cheeks were wet. "Reid has been on this team for over ten years. He's more than my friend, he's a part of my family,"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Diego said. "I wish there was another way-"

"Bullshit!" JJ cried, marching up to him. "We should be looking for another way, not just jumping on the first plan!"

Diego sighed and opened the front door. "We don't have time JJ. Why can't you understand that?"

"Why can't you understand that Reid's life is not negotiable!" JJ replied.

"It's either that or let the world burn!" Diego said. "Do you want that? It's either Klaus conjures Reid, or he dies to the Apocalypse anyway! Do you want to be the one to condemn the rest of the world? To kill Henry?"

"DON'T!" JJ screeched in his face. "Don't you dare!"

Diego clenched his jaw, giving JJ sympathetic eyes. Hotch swallowed a lump in his throat.

"The hospital won't allow Reid to transfer over if they find out there was a shooting," He said solemnly. "I'll tell the Merian Police Force not to come... and we should clear up the Commission's bodies,"

JJ looked at Hotch, horrified. "You can't be serious," She said.

"Go get Reid and your brother," Hotch whispered darkly. Diego nodded and left. JJ glared at Hotch for a few moments before storming down the steps after him.

"Diego!" She called as Diego opened his car door. "If Spencer dies tonight, I won't hesitate to return the favour," 

Diego shook his head. "You couldn't take me," He said. He climbed into the car and drove off, leaving JJ a crying, dishevelled mess. 

But he hadn’t driven that far off. Just a couple blocks, before he pulled up on a street curb and smashed his fists into his dashboard. “FUCK!” He roared, letting his face and heart crumple. He hit his head against the steering wheel, letting his shoulders shake as he sobbed. “I’m so sorry Reid,” He mumbled to himself. “I’m s-s-so-so- so sor-”

His phone ringing in his pocket jerked him from his thoughts. He pulled out his phone, expecting JJ, Morgan, or even Garcia in their last attempt to stop him. But none of them had used any physical force, none of them tried to physically stop him from getting Reid - because as much as they protested, they knew the stakes. They just didn’t want to admit it.

No, the name on his screen was Allison. So he picked up.

“Thank God I finally got through to someone,” She said. “What the hell is going on?”

Diego sucked in a shaky breath. “Well, in summary, the Commission has Vanya, and I’m on my way to condemn one of my friends to death so that Five can Time Travel to the future,”

“What?”

“It’s…” Diego pinched the bridge of his nose. “...A long story,”

“Okay, I’m cancelling my flight and driving the rest of the way,” Allison said.

“No, Allison it’s not-”

“You’re falling apart Diego,” Allison said. “I can hear it in your voice. The Commission have Vanya, it doesn’t take a genius to know what they want with her. You need me. It’s just a few hours drive,”

“You won’t make it in time,” Diego said.

“How long do you have to know me to learn not to underestimate me?” Allison said. “I won’t ask the details. I trust you,”

Fresh tears fell from Diego’s eyes. “Thank you,”

“But your friend…” Allison said. “Is he…?”

“A good person?” Diego said. “Well… remember what Klaus was like before he started using?”

“A little,”

“Imagine if he never did,” Diego replied. “That’s Reid,”

“Oh… God, Diego I’m so sorry,” Allison said. “...I’ll be there as soon as I can,” With that, Allison hung up, leaving Diego alone with his own guilty conscience again.


	9. Dr. Spencer Reid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being wayyy longer than I expected, and to those who say they won't read on - I'd advise you to finish the chapter before making your mind up.  
> (And thanks again for all the support!!)

Diego sat in the waiting room with folded arms, eyes staring at nothing. He had requested for Reid's transfer, saying something about his safety, and lack of protection. So he just had to wait until it was cleared.

Dr. Ferdinand strode into the waiting room, Luther bumbling awkwardly behind him. "Agent Hargreeves?" He asked, and Diego stood. "Make sure he takes one of these twice a day for the next week, this once a day with food for two weeks, and once spoonful of this, once day, an hour after food until it's gone," He said, pointing at the list on Luther's prescription.

"I'm not a dog," Luther said, and Dr. Ferdinand gave him a nod.

"Good day, Mr. Hargreeves," He marched away.

Luther looked at Diego. "So uh... your friend Rossi stopped by yesterday,"

"Yeah I know," Diego said, his voice slightly hoarse. "I told them all everything,"

"So, he was right... this is connected...?"

Diego folded up the prescription and handed it to Luther. "We need to get you home. There's a lot you missed out on,"

"Diego, just tell me everyone's okay," Luther said as he followed Diego out into the reception area. Diego didn't answer, so Luther grabbed his arm. "Diego answer me-"

"No, everyone is not okay," Diego hissed quietly. "Vanya... the Commission got her,"

"What are you talking about?"

"What do you think?" Diego said. "We're right back where we started four years ago,"

Luther shook his head. "No... no Vanya's not going to-"

"Luther," Diego said, squeezing his eyes shut. "Just listen to me. We have until midnight tonight, so you're just going to have to stop and trust me,"

"... Diego, what have you done?"

"Agent Hargreeves?" Called a receptionist, and Diego hopped over to her. "Your request for Dr. Reid's transfer has been cleared, and he'll be loaded into the ambulance and moved shortly,"

"Thank you," He said, walking off and Luther following.

"Diego, tell me what's going on," Luther said. "We're not going to kill Vanya,"

"No," Diego grumbled. "No of course not. We couldn't,"

"Then tell me," Luther growled.

Diego ignored him and marched out of the doors, striding to the car.

"Stop ignoring me!" Luther yelled.

"Get. In. The car," Diego retorted.

Luther struggled to get into the passenger side seat. Diego's grip tightened on the steering wheel as he waited. When the door finally closed shut, he glared at Diego.

"You're starting to annoy me,"

"My friend Reid is going to die," Diego blurted out, not looking at Luther.

"...Oh... Diego I'm so-"

"Don't," Diego shook his head. "Don't do that, I don't deserve it,"

Luther closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I'm only going to ask this one more time. What. Did. You. Do,"

"I condemned my friend to death," Diego spat. "A death that time travel is not going to erase,"

\---

"How can you be okay with this?" Prentiss asked Rossi, who was helping her limp her way to a spare room. She couldn't be seen when the ambulance brought Reid in, so Rossi was moving her out. Everyone else was dragging bodies into the large pantry, or moping the floors.

"Of course I'm not okay with this," Rossi said. "But you know if Reid was given the choice, he'd tell us to it,"

"He doesn't deserve this," Prentiss said. She swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Out of everyone on our team..." She licked her lips.

"I know," Rossi said, pushing open a bedroom door with his foot. "It's not fair," He plopped her down on the bed, and she rested her back against the wall.

Rossi turned to leave, only to feel a pillow fire into his back.

"Oh for God's sake Rossi say something!" Prentiss cried. "How can you just walk out of here like everything's okay?"

"You think that's what I'm doing?" Rossi said.

"Aren't you?" Prentiss replied. "I'm Jesus Christ Rossi, it's Spencer!"

"Stop reminding me!" Rossi yelled, tears finally pricking at the corner of his eyes. "I know it is! But telling me over and over isn't going to change anything!"

Prentiss curled her lip. "I hate you,"

Rossi nodded. "Yeah. So do I,"

\---

They managed to make the place look presentable in the twenty minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive with Reid. Grace helped the medics take him down into the infirmary, and set up, confirming in their mind that she was indeed a medical professional.

JJ was sat on the couch, her hands over her mouth. She glanced up at Diego walking into the house after the ambulance.

"... so you're not going to kill me?" He said.

JJ took her hands away. "Even if the whole team was on my side and in perfect shape, we wouldn't be a match for you. So congratulations. You've gotten what you want,"

"Of course I don't want this," Diego said. "How many times do I-"

"Save it," JJ stood. "Now if you don't mind," Her lip quivered. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Spence,"

JJ brushed past Diego, and stomped her way down to the infirmary. Diego started after her, but caught the gaze of Morgan and Prentiss on their way down the stairs together. They glared at Diego, who hung his head and made his way down to the infirmary.

"-Y'know, going to the other side is a scary process," Klaus was explaining. "And it might be easier for him if there were, y'know, less people staring?"

"We're not leaving him," JJ said, gripping Reid's arm. Klaus nodded with a shrug.

"Okay, just a suggestion,"

Luther nodded. "Yeah, no, I think I should go. I don't really... y'know,"

Five stood up with Luther. "Let me know when he's ready to do the equations," He said, leaving with Luther. Pogo guided Grace out of the room as Prentiss and Morgan wobbled in.

"What is he still doing here?" Morgan snarled at Diego. Diego flinched and looked away.

"He has every right to be here as you do Morgan," Hotch replied as Morgan dropped Prentiss on a bench, sitting down beside her.

Klaus turned to Ben and Dave. "Call us if you need anything," Ben said, as he and Dave walked off into their own little spots in limbo.

Klaus looked up at Hotch, wringing his hands together. "Whenever you're ready,"

Hotch gulped, and sat down beside JJ, who kept her eyes trained on Reid's face. Hotch looked at him too. His hair musty from dried sweat, the oxygen mask obscuring the majority of his face. His chest rising and falling rhythmically.

Hotch raised a shaky hand over to Reid's life support. He clutched it shut momentarily to stop it, before pushing his thumb into the small red button. Somehow, after that, switching off the rest came quickly. The beeps and whirs of the machines subsided. Reid took in two more breaths, before his chest went still.

JJ sobbed, pressing Reid's limp hand against her cheek. Morgan bit his lower lip so hard it almost broke the skin. Hotch's knuckles were white from gripping the side's of the life support machine. Rossi had his arms wrapped around himself, his right hand clutching his small metal cross necklace. Silent tears streamed down Prentiss cheeks as she stared at Reid's body. Diego had his eyes closed and head turned towards the ceiling, his fists opening and closing.

"Hey," Klaus said. Reid was sat on his bed, staring down at his own body. He looked up. "My name is Klaus. I'm Diego's brother,"

"What's going on?" Reid asked.

"Um..." Klaus licked his lips, picking at his fingernails. "I'm... I'm so sorry, but you're dead,"

JJ let out another sob, and Reid turned to look at her. "JJ?" she didn't answer.

"You're lying," Reid said, turning to Hotch. "Hotch, tell me he's lying,"

"I'm really sorry," Klaus said.

"No no no no, no, you're lying," Reid's mouth was open, moving even when he wasn't speaking. "I'm not dead, I'm- I'm right here, JJ! JJ, I'm right here!"

"She can't hear you," Klaus said, and that pushed JJ over the edge. She jumped out of her seat and ran out of the room, covering her face.

"No! JJ don't run away, please!" Reid begged, his eyes beginning to water.

Prentiss tapped Morgan and nodded to the door. Morgan sniffed deeply, and nodded, draping Prentiss' arm over his shoulder.

"Wait wait, where are you going, Emily, Morgan?" Reid said.

Morgan hoisted Prentiss up, and looked to Klaus. "Can he hear us?"

"Of course I can, I'm right here," Reid said, waving a hand in front of him. Klaus nodded.

Morgan drew in a deep, shaky breath, looking at Reid's body on the bed. "I am... so sorry I couldn't save you kid," He shook. "I tried. I really tried, I'm so sorry," Morgan's whole body began to shake, causing Prentiss to lean on him even more as her face finally crumpled.

"Me too," She said. "I just... I'm going to miss you, Spencer,"

Morgan helped Prentiss hobble out of the room.

"Stop, don't go! I'm still here, Morgan!!" Reid leaped up, only then noticing the steel beam protruding from his stomach. Reid's shaky hands closed around it, his breath coming in short, rapid huffs.

"This isn't happening," Reid shook his head, sitting back down on the bed. "This isn't happening, this is just a nightmare,"

He turned to Hotch again, scrambling over his own deathbed. "Hotch come on, please tell me you can see me, tell me this isn't real! HOTCH!"

Rossi took in a deep breath, opened his mouth to say something, and Reid looked at him expectedly. But Rossi shut his mouth again, dropping his cross and leaving. Reid's body deflated, sobs racking through his whole body.

"Spencer..." Hotch said, gently putting his hand on the dead boy's shoulder. His lower lip wobbled, as he slowly slid the oxygen mask off his face. "Spencer, I just want you to know..." Hotch took a moment to clear his throat and steady his voice. "Nothing in this world can ever compare to how much you were apart of this team. Apart of me. You were like a younger brother to me," Hotch gave the faintest hint of a smile through his tears. "Actually, more like an annoying nephew,"

Reid went to put a shaky hand on Hotch's arm, but his hand passed right through. "... Hotch... Hotch don't..."

Hotch's grip on his shoulder tightened, as his whole body tensed. "I'm sorry, I can't do this," He sobbed, getting up and leaving.

"No please, don't leave me too!" Reid screeched. "HOTCH!" Reid curled over, his crying hard and loud. Reid began to rock back and forth.

Klaus looked up at Diego, who had finally opened his eyes again.

"I wish there was something I could do, Reid," Diego said, and Reid's head snapped up to him. Diego looked over at Klaus. "Can you... let me know when he's ready?"

Klaus nodded, and Diego left him alone with Reid. Klaus rubbed his hands together as Reid let the last of his tears fall.

"This is real isn't it?" Reid said. "I'm really dead?"

Klaus nodded. "Sorry. Are you okay?"

"No I am not okay!" Reid roared. "I'm dead! My whole team, my friends, can't even stand to look at me! I'm never going to see them again, I'm never going to see my mother again, I'm never-" He cut himself off with a sharp intake of breath. "I didn't even get to say goodbye,"

Klaus rolled his shoulders. "Well... if you want, I could, y'know, make them see you?"

Reid narrowed his eyes at Klaus, who quickly added "I can't do it for very long! And it's really difficult, so..."

Reid sniffed, and gestured to the beam. "Will they see this?"

"Yeah,"

"Then no," Reid said. "I don't want to make things worse for them," He turned to look at his own dead body. "Shit. Why did this have to be where it ended?"

"Death is cruel-"

"It was rhetorical," Reid snapped. "Who even are you?"

"My name is Klaus," He replied. "And, as much as you need to mourn over yourself right now, I have a favour to ask you,"

\---

Morgan and Prentiss found JJ huddled in on herself in the hallway. Morgan placed Prentiss down beside her, before sitting cross legged across from her. For a few minutes, no one said anything, until JJ lifted her head and pulled out her phone.

"What are you doing?" Morgan sighed.

"Calling Garcia," JJ said.

"We don't have t-"

"Yes we do," JJ interrupted Prentiss. "She needs to know what happened,"

Morgan and Prentiss shared a glance, but didn't stop JJ from calling up Garcia.

"Please, pleas for the love of God give me some good news," Garcia said.

JJ squeezed her eyes closed, Prentiss rubbed her hand over her forehead, and Morgan's head rolled back behind him, chewing his lower lip.

"JJ?" Garcia asked when she didn't answer. JJ cleared her throat.

"Yeah, yeah I'm hear Penelope,"

"Uh-oh," Garcia said. "You only call me Penelope when something's wrong, what's wrong?"

JJ's jaw clenched.

"It's Reid," Morgan said. "... I'm so sorry Penelope. He's gone,"

"Gone?" Garcia said, her voice shaky. "Gone, what do you mean gone, he's not gone,"

"He is," Prentiss said. "Just now. He passed away,"

"No," Garcia sniffed. "No don't say that, he's not allowed to,"

No one said anything as Garcia slowly started to cry harder and harder, hiccuping with the force. They a clatter, as Garcia grabbed the receiver. "I have to be alone right now," She said, and hung up.

"Oh God," Prentiss whispered to herself. "I wish I could be there for her right now,"

Morgan clenched his fists. "Me too. Jesus Christ, Reid is like-... was, like my little brother. And we just..."

"All because some government outside of our own timeline wants to keep his pockets lined," JJ growled. "This ends here. No one else is dying tonight,"

\---

Rossi was a polite man. And polite men don't drink from the cabinets of other men's houses without permission, but right now, Rossi didn't feel like being polite. So he fixed himself a drink, sitting down on the couch just in time to see Hotch join him.

"Is Reid alone down there?" Rossi asked.

Hotch ran a shaky hand over his mouth and jaw. "I couldn't do it, Dave. I couldn't just... sit there, and act like I didn't kill him,"

"We were all in that room Aaron,"

"I was the one who pushed the button," Hotch hung his head.

"... He probably would've wanted it to be you, you know," Rossi offered. "Either you Morgan. And I don't think he could've been able to do it,"

"Gideon and I always had a silent agreement to look after him," Hotch said. "We'd been his mentors since he first joined the BAU. Gideon even before. So when he left..." Hotch shrugged. "I know you tried to help, but..."

"No one could fill the hole Gideon left behind," Rossi said. "I know how close he and the kid were,"

"That's why it was up to me when he left," Hotch continued. "To keep looking after him. This? This isn't looking after him..."

"What else were we supposed to do, Aaron?" Rossi said.

"Be there!" Hotch said. "We were supposed to be there, and I can't,"

"We can't the change the past, Aaron," Rossi said. "There's no going back. And right now, the rest of this team needs their leader," He put his glass down on the table. "We only have three hours until midnight. And if we don't stop the Commission, then Reid's death will have been in vain,"

\---

When Diego left the infirmary, he was met with Eudora's open arms. "Diego I'm so sorry," Diego buried his face in her neck.

"You did the right thing," Cha-Cha said, striding past them with a rifle on her back and shotgun in hand.

"Doesn't feel like it," Diego and Eudroa pulled away to glare at Cha-Cha.

"If you react this way to everyone in your life who dies, you're going to waste it doing just that," She said, looking over her shoulder to add "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry I shot you,"

Eudora cocked her head. "You are not forgiven,"

Cha-Cha shrugged. "When you're done, meet me in the foyer. We should discuss how exactly we plan on saving the world," She said, and walked off. Diego sighed.

"I'll get your team," Eudora said, rubbing Diego's arm. "I think you should get Five, he's in the kitchen,"

Diego nodded and left, finding Five in the kitchen with Luther and his notebook. Five looked up. "It he ready?"

"I don't know," Diego said. "But we don't have a lot of time, so..."

Five nodded and jumped out of the room. Diego sighed and sat down on the kitchen chair.

"So..." Luther said awkwardly.

"Still hate me for killing my friend?" Diego said.

"Yes, very much so," Luther growled. "I just seen the rest of your team tear out of the infirmary as if- as if there was a plague down there or something. They were destroyed,"

"Yeah, I noticed," Diego said. "And now I have to ask them to help me save Vanya,"

"Will they do it?"

"Of course they will," Diego said. "It's what they do. Doesn't make it any less horrible though,"

"So whats the plane then?"

Diego squinted at Luther. "You know you're not coming right?"

"What? Of course I am,"

"You just got out of the hospital,"

"I'm fine,"

Diego leaned over the table and jabbed a finger into Luther's shoulder. Luther howled. "Ow, hey, that's spots still sensitive,"

"Yeah, you're staying here," Diego stood up. "Besides, I need you to stay here and look after everyone here, Prentiss, Rossi, Mom. I'm going to try and make JJ stay, but I don't think she will,"

Luther groaned and rolled his eyes. "Okay, but can you do me a favour? When all this is over?"

Diego raised an eyebrow.

"Can Klaus live you for a couple of weeks?"

"Wha-why?"

Luther pulled his prescription of his pocket and wiggled it. "I'm pretty sure we haven't found all of his secret stashes here either, so best be on the safe side,"

Diego groaned. "Yeah, sure. No problem," He turned to leave, but hesitated. "... How did you and Klaus end up living together?"

Luther shrugged. "Well, I, y'know, wanted to get a job and stand on my own two feet, y'know? Become my own person. And you know how Klaus is, he needs someone to look after him, so,"

"Yeah. That's true," Diego said. “Listen, if anything happens, call me-”

“What are you going to do, leave Vanya and come rushing back?” Luther said. 

Diego shook his head and waved him off, heading to the foyer to meet Cha-Cha.

\---

“So the world will end unless I fix this equation?” Reid said, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief and cheeks still ‘wet’ from tears.

“Yeah, you know, it’s got something to do with Time Travel,” Klaus said.

Five stomped down the stairs into the infirmary, notebook and marker in hand. “Ready?”

Klaus looked up at Reid. “Please?”

Reid took in a deep breath, despite not needing to breathe, and rubbed his fingers under his eyes. He stood. “Yeah. Yeah okay, let’s do this,”

Five dragged over the bench and began writing in the corner of the wall, but stopped after a couple seconds. He nodded to the body. “Do we… need that in here?”

“Don’t move my body!” Reid defended.

Klaus gave an thin smile. “Sorry. Kinda has to stay,”

Five eyed the body uneasily, before turning back to the equation, Reid following along with with hands fluttering at his sides. After a solid three minutes of just writing, Reid’s hand shot out. “There!”

“Wait, where?” Klaus stood up.

Reid pointed at a symbol on the wall. “This, change this,”

Klaus looked around the room, picking up a bandage wrap and rubbing alcohol, rubbing away the symbol Reid pointed at, and taking the marker from the curious Five.

“Change it to a theta six, and-”

“A what?”

“A theta,”

“What the fuck is a theta?”

Five snatched the marker back from Klaus. “Give me that. Just repeat what he says,”

Klaus nodded, repeated Reid’s words and hand gestures.

\---

Eudora walked into the foyer, everyone else in tow, to meet Cha-Cha and Diego. Diego was holding the monocle up to his eye, but he lowered it at seeing the others stride in.

“What’s out next step?” Hotch asked, his voice low and guttural.

“Well first off, you two are staying here,” Diego said, pointing at Rossi and Prentiss.

“Um, excuse me?” Prentiss said.

“Emily, you can’t walk,” Morgan said.

“I can still shoot, can’t I?”

“I agree Prentiss should stay,” Rossi said. “But I’m coming,”

“You’ve taken a lot of hits, Dave,” Hotch said. “I agree with Diego, you should stay here, with Prentiss,” He tilted his head forward just slightly, not really enough for anyone to take note, but Rossi knew what he meant.

This was less about Rossi not being able, and more about the very real fact that they might fail, that the world might end today. And that Prentiss shouldn’t have to face it in a strange house with a robot, a monkey, and a monkey-man.

So Rossi sighed, and let it go.

“According to the monocle,” Diego continued. “The Commission is going to hit the moon from the Observatory off the coast of Lake Michigan. It’s three stories, with Commission men covering every inch of the first two floors, and about ten on the observation deck, as well as Vanya, Troy, and Troy’s family at gunpoint,”

“The Observatory is a pretty good place to use,” JJ said, not looking at Diego. “But they’d have to kill a lot of scientists to do it,”

“They’re planning on ending the world,” Cha-Cha said. “I don’t think they’re above killing a couple people,”

“And, if they see us coming?” Beaman said. “What then, I mean, we can’t just storm the observatory tower. What even is our target?”

“Vanya,” Cha-Cha replied, as if it were obvious.

“No,” Diego spat.

“Fine, Troy then,”

“No,” Diego said. “We aren’t killing anyone who doesn’t work for the Commission,”

Cha-Cha groaned and rolled her head on her neck. “Just want to make things difficult, don’t you?”

“No, we just don’t want to take another innocent life,” JJ glared, making Diego’s eyebrows shoot upwards.

“So how do you suppose we stop them then?” Cha-Cha asked.

“We need to deafen Vanya,” Diego said. “Her powers rely on sound. It’s what we did last time,”

“So you just want to repeat last time?” Morgan said.

Diego shrugged. “It’s the best option we got. Klaus can use Ben to take out, ten, fifteen men?”

“If he uses his powers,” Morgan huffed.

“What are you talking about?”

“When the Commission attacked the house, he had a chance to use his powers, and he didn’t,” Morgan said, causing Diego to cock his head. “We can’t just rely on him without question,”

“He can use a gun,” Rossi said. “Surely that’s enough?”

“How many men do they have?” Hotch asked.

“For a mission like this?” Cha-Cha said. “Hundred at least,”

“And there’s only eight of us,” Eudora said, and Beaman gulped beside her. “That would leave us with a dozen each,”

“I think I should go in alone,” Diego said.

“Do that and you’ll die,” Cha-Cha said.

“If I wear the monocle, I can predict their every move,” Diego said. “I’ll be able to sneak in-”

“And reach Vanya how?” Prentiss countered. “She’ll be the most heavily guarded in the place,”

Diego sighed and hung his head.

“The only way is if we take them all out,” Morgan said.

“Or,” Eudora said, her thumb rubbing over her rabbit’s foot. “We go in from the top,”

“The top?” Morgan asked.

“They picked the observatory because the roof opens and Vanya will have a clear view of the moon,” She explained. “If that future is set, and there is indeed only ten throwaway men on the observation deck, then we can probably take them, and deafen Vanya before the others see what’s going on,”

“How do we get to the roof?” Hotch said. “Not to mention there’d be too many people caught in the crossfire,”

“Dad has tools we used as kids to sneak into robberies,” Diego said. “And it’s better than fighting the other ninety on way up. We’ll have to attack quick, and fast,”

“What about your escape?” Rossi asked. “You can’t exactly scale down the side of the building again,”

“We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” Morgan said, folding his arms.

“There is one good thing,” Cha-Cha said. “The guy who took over the Handler’s position is nowhere near as good as she was. The likelihood is, he won’t even be there, and it’s just the throwaway men,”

“Throwaway men?” JJ said.

“Yeah,” Cha-Cha shrugged. “Those guys in the masks and the vests? They’re not highly trained, they’re not like Hazel and I. They’re used for their numbers, they’re like-”

“Pawns?” JJ said, and Cha-Cha glared.

“Something like that,” She ground out.

“So one hundred plus throwaway men, against three FBI agents, two Detectives, a Time Traveling assassin, an ex vigilante and Klaus - hopefully also Ben,” Eudora said. “We should probably stop off at a gun store first, stock up on ammo,”

Everyone hummed in agreement.

\---

Five stepped away from the wall, his lips slowly tugging upwards as he took in the information. “It all makes so much more sense now. I mean, the briefcases, they’re not used as containments, they’re, they’re used for their size!”

“Because they’re… small?” Klaus cocked his head.

“Exactly!”

“Is that why you’re still so short?”

Five shot Klaus a glare. A moment passes of nothing, then two, then three. Reid quirked an eyebrow at Klaus. “Is this what Time Travel looks like to him?”

Klaus ignored him. “Five? You okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Five scoffed.

“Okay,” Klaus nodded. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah,” Five said, nodding and shuffling on his feet, getting ready to jump. And he didn’t.

“Stage fright?”

“No!” Five snapped. “I’m not scared of Time Travel, I’ve done it more times than I care to count,” He turned his head back to the equations. “You’re the one who should be scared you know, you might end up dead tonight. The whole- the world will-” Five cut himself off, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Oh,” Klaus whispered. “I see. You’re afraid that you’re going to be jumping straight into the Apocalypse again, aren’t you?”

Reid cocked his head when Klaus said ‘again’, but he didn’t comment on it. Klaus sat down on the bench across from Five.

“I won’t be able to fix this one,” Five said. “I can’t come back and round everyone up. When I jump… that’s it. I’ll be stuck no matter what,” He scoffed, throwing his hands up at the equation on the wall. “I mean, I may as well have not known this, for all the good it’s going to cause,”

Klaus pursed his lips. “Look on the bright side. Imagine all the lovely peace and quiet you get to have again,”

“It’s not funny Klaus,”

Klaus sighed. “Okay, you want me to be serious? You might not be able to change the future, but we can. We can see the future. We can learn from our mistakes before they even happen,”

Five pushed his tongue against his cheek. “Just… don’t fuck up,”

“I’ll try not to,” Klaus chuckled, and stood, tapping Five on the shoulder. “Good luck, Old Man,”

“You too idiot,” Five held his fists together.

“He-”

Five crouched and threw his hands out, the blue light of space and time warping around him.

“Christ on a cracker!” Klaus yelped from behind him, clattering into a shelf behind him.

Five spun around on his heels, his eyes taking in the scene of the still intact infirmary. “Klaus? You’re alive! You did it!”

“Yeah, yeah everything’s fine, world is saved,” Klaus said, his hand over his still beating heart.

“Wait, what are you doing down in the infirmary?” He cocked his head. Klaus shrugged.

“Well I, y’know, didn’t want you to just jump in here billy no mates,” Klaus chuckled.

“You’re down here to greet me?” Five deadpanned.

“Well it was Ben’s idea!” Klaus said.

Five shook his head with a smile. “I don’t care whose idea it was. I’m just happy the world lives another day,” He said and sat down on the bench, before frowning at Reid still in the infirmary.

His frown only grew when he noticed the beeping heart monitor. “Uhh, Klaus? If I jumped to the future then…?”

“How is he alive?” Klaus gestured to Reid with a grin. “Funny story…”


	10. Ride of The Valkyries (With Less Ice-Cream)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late update, I've been helping my Mam with some stuff, and I went to see Detective Pikachu yesterday, so I didn't have a lot of time  
> Thanks again for all the support, I am so happy people like this story!

Five jumped, and Klaus huffed. "Of course, he always has to be the one with the last..." Klaus trailed off, seeing Reid staring down at his own body.

"You going to go back to freaking out now?" Klaus asked.

"No," Reid sighed. "Who did it?"

"Who did what?"

Reid rolled his eyes. "Who turned off my life support?"

"Oh," Klaus said awkwardly. "The uh, the guy with the eyebrows. Sorry, it's been a weird couple of days, I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone, I only really know Rossi," Klaus shrugged. "You're Spencer though, right?"

Reid snorted. "Yeah, I'm Spencer. Nice to meet you I guess?"

"Ditto," Klaus laughed. "I'm not really, y'know, used to talking to ghosts. Not like this anyway,"

"You weren't born like this?"

"No, I was," Klaus sighed. "Just spent the majority of my life so high that I couldn't," Klaus frowned at the way Reid cocked his head. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, nothing," Reid shook his head. "Do you... know what's going to happen to me? After this?"

Klaus sat down. "No? I mean, not really? You can haunt people I guess. Watch them,"

Reid didn't say anything, simply stared down at the beam that was now going to be apart of him forever in his afterlife. Klaus grit his teeth and his eyebrows curled up, Ben and Dave emerging from nothing like vampires stepping effortlessly from the shadows.

"Can we help?" Ben asked, and Reid snapped his head up.

"Who are you?"

"My names Ben, I'm Klaus' brother. Diego's too," Ben shrugged.

"I'm Dave. Klaus and I are..." He trailed off to flash Klaus a smile. "Well let's just say we're working on some kinks in his new powers,"

"You're dead too I suppose," Reid said, and Ben nodded.

"For a while. I just thought you could use someone to talk to, who knows what's going on?"

Klaus hung his head, his two hands clutching into his hair. He felt oddly out of place, as Reid spoke with Dave and Ben, their tone's quiet and solemn. He was the only living person in the room, that was why, but this wasn't a feeling he was used to - he's always treated Dave and Ben as if they were actually there, which was easy enough since they were always there, but now that Reid was sitting on top of his own dead body, it's hard to ignore the fact that to the naked eye in reality, it was just him and a dead body.

It was even worse knowing who the body belonged to. He's met Reid now, he knows the person who once inhabited that body, he saw how desperate and vulnerable he was. He saw how unfair the death was. He saw how distraught his friends were.

Was there anything in Klaus' power's that could grant some form of kindness?

"-laus! Klaus!"

Klaus snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Dave calling him. Klaus looked up, Dave crouched before him. He could see Ben over Dave's shoulder, shocked. And he couldn't see Reid. 

"Look," Dave gestured to Klaus' hands. He slid them slowly from his hair, the palms glowing the same luminous blue of when he conjures a ghost. But no one was-

Reid was breathing. Or rather, his body was breathing. His chest was shimmering slightly.

"I think you're..." Ben trailed off, before throwing his hands out. "Quick! Turn the life support on!"

Klaus scrambled to turn on the machines, not quite knowing what he was doing, but Reid's body hadn't been unhooked from anything yet, so at least there was nothing complicated. Only when he placed the oxygen mask over Reid's face, did the glow in Klaus' hands and Reid's chest fade away.

"Oh God," Klaus gasped. "Oh my God. Did I...?"

"I think you forced his spirit back inside his body," Dave grinned. "I think- I think you can bring people back from the dead, Klaus,"

"Well..." Klaus said, his breath speeding up slightly. "That's new," He scratched at the palm of his hands. "I should, uh... I should probably tell someone,"

Klaus rushed up the stairs, spotting Diego walking past with a bag on his shoulder and all too familiar knives strapped to his body.

"Hey, did Five jump?" Diego asked.

"Yeah," Klaus held up two crossed fingers. "Let's hope we didn't just throw him back into the Apocalypse, amiright?"

Diego's eyes widened slightly, and he turned his away, cursing to himself. "I can't believe I forgot about that. Jesus," He looked back at Klaus. "Listen, if we have any chance of doing this, we're going to need Ben. So don't freak out on me, okay?"

"Yeah," Klaus looked over his shoulder. "Um, about that-"

"Klaus please," Diego said. "If not for the world, then for Five,"

"I did something," Klaus jabbed his thumb behind him.

"What, what did you do?" Diego said, his voice dark but with a hint of concern lacing it.

"I kind of brought your friend back to life?"

Diego's body tensed, as if he had been punched in the stomach, and his jaw dropped. He pushed past Klaus down into the infirmary, skidding at Reid's bedside. He was breathing, but Diego still pressed two fingers against Reid's neck, just to make sure.

"How did you do that?" Diego asked.

"I dunno, I just kind of..." Klaus raised his fists, clapped them together and then shrugged.

"Okay..." Diego whispered. "Okay, as amazing and incredible as this is, we gotta go, we don't have time,"

"Yeah," Klaus sighed sadly. Diego ran past him again, into the hallway. "Pretty amazing alright,"

The rest of the team were waiting in the hallway, Rossi trying to hobble Prentiss into the living room, where Grace and Pogo were sitting. Diego glanced over at the crowd, the team making small, yet noticeable flinches.

"No, no issue, it's just that he's alive-"

"WHAT!?" The entire room yelled, causing Diego to instinctively duck. Diego barely managed another sound when the team - JJ first, Rossi and Prentiss dragging behind - darted back to the infirmary.

"Hey, we don't have time!" Cha-Cha called, and Diego waved her off.

"They'll only be a second," He said as Klaus walked up to them. Cha-Cha sighed heavily, then picked up a duffel bag by her feet. She pulled out a rifle, and shoved it at Klaus, without looking at him.

"Five told me you knew how to use this," She said. Klaus took the gun with a glare.

\---

“Spence, Spence, Oh my God,” JJ said, grabbing onto the hand she had cried into earlier. Morgan rounded the other side and Hotch hung back by the door.

Morgan didn’t say anything, just stared down at the pale, fragile body. He glanced up at Hotch, who was keeping his gaze low.

JJ leaned in close to Reid’s ear. “Listen to me. We have to go, but we’ll be back as soon as we can. I promise,”

“We’ll wait here,” Prentiss said, as Rossi helped her down the stairs. “So he won’t be alone,”

JJ nodded and stood. Morgan gave Reid’s arm a comforting squeeze before they left.

“Are we ready now?” Cha-Cha griped as they came out of the infirmary.

“Yeah,” Morgan said. “We’re ready,”

They split into two cars, Diego driving one with Cha-Cha in the passenger side, JJ and Beaman in the back (Klaus and Eudora didn’t particularly want to sit in a car with Cha-Cha). Hotch drove, with Eudora beside him, Morgan and Klaus in the back.

The first thing Diego did when he got into the car was check the monocle. He was able to see the team arrive just short of the Observatory, and sneak their way around the back, using the ziplines in Diego’s duffel bag. He sighed, lowering the monocle, and shooting a quick text to Allison.

‘If manage to get here on time, head to the Observatory,’

He checked the monocle again, but the image didn’t change. Cha-Cha slid into the passenger seat, and Diego shoved his phone and monocle into his pocket. She looked at him, folding her arms as Diego started up the car.

“If things go wrong,” Cha-Cha said. “Would you rather you kill Vanya, or I?”

“Neither of us are killing Vanya,” Diego said, and Cha-Cha rolled her eyes.

“How in the hell have you managed to be a vigilante for so long, huh?” She said. Diego didn’t answer, so Cha-Cha ignored him. If it was needed, of course she was going to kill Vanya. All she was doing was asking if Diego would rather he did it.

“What’s going to happen after?” Beaman asked tentatively. “Things aren’t going to go back to normal, I mean, they couldn’t,”

Diego glanced at JJ through the rearview mirror. “Well I believe I’m going to be killed, isn’t that right?”

“The death threat has been revoked,” JJ huffed. “But… you’re probably going to get thrown off the team,”

“Yep,” Diego said. “Maybe I could go back to being a vigilante?”

Cha-Cha snorted, and Diego glared. He had meant it as a joke, but a mild joke, and by her grin, she didn’t take it too mildly.

“What about you, Chach?” Diego said, and Cha-Cha grimaced at the nickname. “You got a home to go to?”

“No,” She shrugged nonchalantly. She turned her head out the window, her index finger scratching at her knee. “I… had planned on going to the fifties. Hazel is there, and I wanted to patch things up with him,”

Diego glanced at her. “How do you know he’s in the fifties?”

Cha-Cha laughed. “I used to work with the guy! He was my best friend for over twenty years, you learn a couple things,” She rested her head against the window. “Not that it matters. My briefcase is broken. I’m stuck here,”

Diego groaned low in his throat. “I met Hazel a couple of months ago,” He said, and Cha-Cha’s head snapped over to him. Beaman looked over to JJ, who simply shrugged. “He runs a donut shop in California with his wife, Agnes,”

The corner of Cha-Cha’s lips fluttered up slightly. “So they’re still together huh?” She leaned her head against the window again. “Guess they really were in love,”

Diego hummed, and that was the end of the conversation with them, having drifted into a comfortable silence. 

\---

Klaus was beside Morgan, behind Eudora. He was squished against the door, to make room for Dave and Ben in the middle of them, despite the fact that the two were ghosts and didn’t actually take up any space. He just doesn’t really feel comfortable phasing through them.

“How long have you been able to resurrect people Klaus?” Eudora asked. Klaus puffed out a breath of air through pursed lips.

“Oh well, let’s see, probably my entire life but I didn’t notice until now,” He shrugged. “I died once, for like a minute. And I met my Dad in the afterlife, he said something about unused potential. I thought he was talking about the whole ‘conjuring’ thing but,” Klaus threw his hands up. “Guess there’s even more to me that I didn’t know about,”

“That’s pretty incredible,” Eudora said. “I mean… you can bring people back from the dead!”

“Yeah,” Klaus sighed. Morgan frowned at Klaus’ downtrodden tone.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Morgan snapped, causing Klaus to blink at the sudden outburst. “Back at the house, you refused to use your powers to help, now you’re upset you brought someone back to life? I would have thought that you’d be overjoyed,”

Klaus scoffed. “Diego tells you his side of the story, and now all of a sudden you know me?” 

“So then tell me,” Morgan said. Klaus glanced at Eudora, Hotch, Dave and Ben, before folding his arms in on himself.

“I’m fine thanks,”

“Is this about Ben?” Eudora asked, and Klaus tensed. “And Dave? Because you couldn’t save them before?”

Klaus didn’t answer. The air inside the car was tense, even Dave and Ben were uncomfortable. Morgan went to open his mouth, but Hotch snapped his head round to cut him off. So Morgan didn’t say anything.

The drive to the local gun store took only five minutes, and after Hotch and Morgan flashed their badges, they managed not to rise much suspicion when buying the truck load of ammunition that they did.

After that, the trip to the Observatory was little over a half an hour long, and through the walkie-talkies installed in the SUV’s, Diego directed them to a shadowed area that was far enough away from the Observatory not to be seen by any scouts. With less than an hour until midnight, Diego secured the monocle in place and took the lead in sneaking the team around to the back. They kept low, and thank God all of them have been trained in stuff like this. Morgan and Cha-Cha were directly behind Diego, Morgan with the duffel bag of zipwires on his back. Hotch, JJ and Eudora kept in line behind, with Beaman and Klaus bringing up the rear. The Observatory was located in amongst a forest, in clean air with as little pollution as possible so that the sky was clear. And this meant that the team had as much cover as they needed.

Any time Diego saw a guard on the outskirts of the Observatory approach through the monocle, he made quick work with a toss of a knife before dragging the body into a bush, not to be found. If multiple showed up, he waved a hand and everyone ducked behind one of the various bushes, waited for them to pass. Cha-Cha kept an eye on the time, but it had only taken them a few minutes to get to the quiet, and vacant blind spot of the Observatory.

Morgan dropped the bag on the ground - three wires, but only six harnesses. Diego cursed silently. It had been for the Academy kids, of course there were only six, two per wire.

“We’ll have to send six up, and drop two harnesses back down for the other two,” Hotch whispered.

“I don’t need a harness,” Cha-Cha said. “We don’t have time in anyways,”

“We have forty-five minutes,” JJ responded. “That’s time enough,”

“And it takes five to put on a harness, five to take off - if you know what you’re doing,” Cha-Cha hissed. “We don’t have any time to lose, so just throw the damned wire,”

Diego tied the wires securely to the grapple-hooks, each minute making Cha-Cha tap her foot impatiently. He ignored her, shutting his left eye so that he can use the monocle to aim for the vents that protruded from the rounded roof. He hurled the hook, managing to curl it around the vent and drop back down without the hook clanging off the the metal. He breathed a sigh of relief, throwing the other two as Morgan and Hotch fixed the bottom of the wires to the ground. Beaman and Eudora helped strap JJ and Klaus into their harnesses.

As soon as the first wire was secured, Cha-Cha grabbed it and began to scale the building, harnessless as she had promised. Diego motioned for Klaus to go next, sharing a wire with Cha-Cha, before turning to help Eudora with her own harness. JJ and Eudora were moved to the next wire, Hotch and Morgan then taking the next one, and Beaman following on behind Klaus.

Quickly checking the watch, he noticed they had wasted over fifteen minutes with just the harness bullshit, and according to the monocle, if the team waited for Diego to climb up after them, it was game over. So with a low grunt, Diego grabbed the middle wire, climbing up behind Eudora.

\---

Prentiss was sat by the window, sprawled on the bench, Rossi after taking a bottle of whiskey and wine down into the infirmary. Pogo and Grace were also waiting in the infirmary, mostly to keep and eye on Reid, and Pogo had given Rossi permission to raid the drink cabinet.

“Are you okay?” He asked, sitting down beside her and handing her a drink. Prentiss accepted the drink, and grit her teeth.

“I hate being stuck here,” Prentiss said with a shake of her head. “I hate feeling so… useless!”

Rossi followed Prentiss’ line of sight to the bright, shiny moon hanging in the sky. “There’s about half an hour left,” Prentiss continued. “They haven’t called, so nothing has happened yet. Or they’re dead and we’re doomed,” Prentiss swirled the whiskey around the ice in the glass, before taking a sip. She lay down on the bench completely now, her dark hair falling to the ground. “Never expected that this is where I’d be when the world ends, huh?”

Rossi chuckled. “Yeah. Though, where did you expect you’d be?”

Prentiss shrugged. “I know where’d I’d pick if I had a choice,” She peered up at him. “With Sergio,”

Rossi grinned. “Of all the places in the world, anywhere, you want to spend your last moments with your cat?”

“Of course,” Prentiss said. “What about you?”

Rossi pursed his lips as he thought. “A Shau Valley, in Vietnam. It was a gorgeous tropical forest, at least it was before we got there. I don’t know what happened to it after the war. I hope it was cleaned up, back to the way it used to be,” He shook his head. “Or Italy. Ooh, Venice. On the canal, with some fine wine,”

“Well we got the wine,” Prentiss laughed. She looked over to Pogo, who had obviously heard the conversation. After a moment of deliberation, Prentiss said “What about you, kind sir?” jolting Pogo for a moment. “Where would you go?”

Pogo cocked his head, mostly thrown from having been called ‘sir’ for the first time in his life, but also by the question. “Here. It has been my home my entire life. It is where… I feel safe,” He gave a curt nod.

“I would go where the paintings are,” Grace smiled. “And talk to the lady,” Slowly her face fell. Grace got to her feet.

“Grace? Where are you going?”

“No one should be alone right now,” She said, and left the infirmary. Assuming she was talking about Luther, Pogo let her go.

She strode right up to her seat, and sat down across from the painting of the dark haired lady. “Hello,” She said. “It’s me again. The one who site here, but I’ve never spoken to you before, have I?”

“Mom?” Luther said, having been heading to the infirmary when he heard her voice. “Who are you talking to?”

“No one should be alone right now,” Grace smiled, before turning back to the painting. “Not even her,”

Luther swallowed thickly. He didn’t want to leaves her there, talking to a painting. Like she said, no one should be alone right now.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, deciding the best thing to do is to treat the woman in the painting just like he would Delores.

‘God my family is so weird,’ “Why don’t we take her down into the infirmary?” Luther asked. “That was she can have even more people to talk to?”

“Of course,” Grace said, her eyes blinking. “I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that,”

Luther took the painting off the wall, carrying her down to the infirmary with his mother in tow. He tentatively peeked his head inside, as Grace took the painting and placed it on a chair in the room. Luther cleared his throat. “Is it alright if I come in?”

“Sure,” Rossi raised his glass, before moving to pour one for Luther. “The more the merrier!”

“We’re sharing opinions,” Prentiss said, struggling to drink at her angle. “If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?”

Luther drew in a breath, sliding into a seat beside Pogo as Grace placed a glass of wine by the paintings side. “I would say here. It’s my hom-” He cut himself off, his eyes flickering downwards. “No, not here. No where, actually… Just… anywhere where my family is,”

Rossi tapped his finger against the glass, Prentiss turned her head back towards the window to stare at the moon, and Pogo gave Luther a sympathetic smile.

“Do you know…” Prentiss said. “Was it quick? Or will we see it coming?”

“You will if you keep staring at the moon like that,” Luther said. “But… it was quick. We won’t feel any pain, if it does happen,”

Prentiss nodded, and Rossi knocked back his drink. Prentiss peered up at him as he made himself another. Rossi raised his glass, and Luther gently scooped up the one Rossi had made for him.

“To us losers, at the end of the world,” Rossi said, and Prentiss snickered.

“Here here,” She said, all three humans knocking back their drinks, while Pogo simply tapped his cane.


	11. Showtime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone so much for the wait!!! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, and I'm sorry if this isn't as good as the others, I'm still in a bit of a creative slump (Not to mention I'm going to be moving over the next few weeks, so the final chapter might take some time too) but I hope you enjoy it!!

Cha-Cha slipped, her body clapping against the side of the building, albeit quietly. She slid down, hissing against the wire burning her hands as she fell, before being stopped by a body slamming into from behind, pinning her against the wall.

It was an awkward position. Klaus had brought up his knee between Cha-Cha's legs, and his arm instinctively curled around her waist. He had to keep his other hand on the wire, and his other foot braced against the wall, so he ended up shoving his side against her back.

Cha-Cha grunted. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I didn't fancy getting taken out by you," Klaus replied.

Cha-Cha wriggled her fingers on the wire, trying to get her grip back. "I swear if you get a boner right now-"

"Please take this personally, but you don't really do it for me," Klaus smirked. 

Cha-Cha growled at him, and forced herself back up.

"You all good?" Beaman called.

"Peachy," Cha-Cha hissed. They climbed up about three quarters of the way up the building, when a shuddering, booming noise erupted from within.

"What's happening?" Called Morgan over the thunderous sound.

"They're opening up the roof!" Diego shouted back. "They're probably going to keep it on for Vanya!"

"At least we have something to cover our noise!" JJ said.

They climbed up onto the roof, Beaman giving Diego a hand when he almost slipped like Cha-Cha. The roof was indeed open, like it was a cake with a slice taken out. Diego concentrated on the scene below them from the monocle, as everyone fidgeted with their harnesses.

Nothing had changed from initial peep into the timeline. There were still only ten guards, a woman was tied to a chair, a little girl asleep - or rather, unconscious - on her lap. Troy's family. At least if they fail, the little girl would have no knowledge of it. Two of the guards had their guns pointing at Vanya, who was facing the opened up roof, sobbing and shaking her head. She was shackled, her hands and feet, like a prisoner in an old timey Chain Gang. There was no sound from the monocle, but Diego could clearly see Vanya's lips moving to form "Please don't make me do this,"

Troy was behind her, a thin man with spindly limbs and bony fingers. He didn't seem to be much happier than Vanya about this, but one glance back at the gun pointed to his wife's face was enough for him to harden his nerves.

There was another man there too. He wasn't dressed as a throwaway man, he held no guns, and simply draped himself over an observation monitor as if on a couch watching a movie. He had white-streaked brunette hair slicked back, a pencil thin mustache and thick eyebrows. He wore a striped shirt, more like a blouse actually, with denim trousers and suspenders. The thing that gave him away though, was the wide brimmed hat and spurs on the bottom of his boots. He remembered Five mention how The Handler was always dressed as if she had hopped out of the roaring 20's - either because it was the time she was from, or her favourite time. This guy had clearly been a cowboy, and Diego suspected the new leader.

"Seems like the new boss has decided to tag along afterall," Diego looked at Cha-Cha. "What do we call him, Handler 2?"

"Jeffery," Cha-Cha replied. Diego went to speak again, but interrupted himself with a double take. Cha-Cha shrugged. "What? That's his name,"

Diego rolled his eyes as the others gathered around the roof, some stumbling from the slight curve.

"Our top priority is to get Vanya, Troy and his family to safety," Hotch said. "We can't jump in from this height,"

"Probably should've factored that into the plan," Eudora winced.

"Is there anyway we can, I don't know, sneak in?" JJ suggested, looking at Diego.

Diego brought a hand up to the monocle, as if he could somehow focus it. He wasn't sure how exactly the monocle worked, so far all he had to do was think of what he wanted to see and it showed it to him. 

He was trying to find somewhere where they could lower one of the zip lines and slide down, even if it were one by one. The only blindspot he could find was behind the massive telescope, but it wasn't at a-

That's it. The Telescope barely poked out from the opening, but it was close enough to reach, and wide enough to stand on. Diego peeked over the rim, to make sure no one was looking, before hanging his legs off the edge. "Follow my lead," He said, jumping off and landing on the back off the telescope. He immediately toppled to his side, and skid down the telescope rapidly, barely managing to land on his feet. He hunkered down beside the large control modules that weren't being guarded, and beckoned the others down. Cha-Cha slid down first, followed closely by Morgan, then JJ.

Diego poked his head over the module. There were two doors leading to the lower levels, throwaway men patrolling them like dogs.

The building was still whirring, producing the sound needed for Vanya to use her powers, but even then, he could now hear the desperate pleading from Vanya that crushed his heart. They were closest to Troy's wife and kid - they were top priority right now. 

The New Handler, Jeffery, was still lounging across the monitors. He checked his watch, and sat up straight, throwing Troy a wave. "Alright, get a move on now, this should be high enough,"

Diego cursed, just as JJ landed beside him. Vanya looked behind her, begged and pleaded with Troy, who was shaking as he raised his hands.

But then Vanya stopped suddenly. For a second, Diego feared that Troy had gotten into her head already, but that wasn't the case. No, Diego realised that Vanya had seen him. She had made eye contact with him. And her fear had just... melted away.

It was the exact opposite of the Icarus theatre. He saw the anger, the fear that Vanya had felt when she had seen him back then, but this was different. Now? Now Vanya wasn't angry at him, now Vanya needed him.

So Diego stood, ignored Morgan tugging at his leg to keep their cover, and fired his gun - but he was always better at throwing knives than firing a gun. It missed.

Jeffery jumped off the monitor with a yowl, and the entirety of the room snapped their heads over to Diego. Morgan barely managed to yank Diego down before bullets started whirring over their heads.

"What the fuck was that!?" Morgan roared in his face. Diego pushed Morgan off. Cha-Cha and JJ were perched on either side of the telescope, throwing covering fire. The others from the roof were doing their best to help, though at their angle, it was hard to hit anyone. Still, covering fire was covering fire.

"Morgan, I need you to try and make a break for the Troy girls," Diego said, sliding up beside JJ. "This may be our only chance-"

"Maybe if you hadn't of-"

"Save the drama!" Cha-Cha interrupted Morgan. "And just go!" 

With a growl, Morgan sidled up against the wall in a position that allowed him to see Mrs. Troy attempting to huddle herself and her still unconscious daughter under their chair. Morgan took a glance around - too many men firing close to them, and no doubt many more climbing up the tower. Morgan wasn't able to see a clear path to the girls, even with the covering fire.

Morgan cursed to himself. "I can't get to them!" He called back to Diego. Diego glanced over, tossing a knife into a nearby throwaway man.

Hotch saw an opening and hopped down onto the telescope, sliding down and joining the fray. On the roof, Beaman, Eudora, and Klaus spread out as much as they could. "It's hard to get an angle from up here," Eudora noted.

"At the bright side, it's hard for them to get one too," Beaman offered.

Klaus scooted to the edge of the Observatory opening, enough to see the way Michael Troy was hunkered down beside Vanya, her face slack. No doubt using his power to keep her complicit, for fear of his family being killed. That brought Klaus' attention to the family, and Morgan struggling to get to them. He tried to aim for the throwaway men that were firing close to Morgan, but he ended up hitting the modules around them.

Briefly, Klaus glanced up at the men around him - the throwaway men that Ben had killed in the Icarus Theatre. Klaus grit his teeth. "Okay, get ready to have some of your friends join you," He then turned to Ben. 

Klaus dropped his gun and curled his fists, Ben jumping down into the middle of the Observatory. Klaus' fists began to shake from exertion, and Ben stared down at his own hands, watching them begin to turn blue.

All of the throwaway men paused in confusion for the briefest moment, enough for Ben to rip open his shirt and the tentacles to lash out.

"Holy shit," Morgan whispered. He'd heard what Ben could do from Diego, but this... this was horrifying. The throwaway men screeched, the ones that weren't being thrown about firing into the ghostly figure.

Morgan's head snapped round to the Troy girl's, the mother staring wide-eyed at Ben. Morgan took his chance to rush over.

"Mrs. Troy? My name is Derek, I'm here to get you out," He said, scooping up the little girl in his arms. Mrs. Troy nodded, only to howl in pain as a bullet ripped through her leg. Morgan cursed, and attempted to drag her behind some cover, only to have pain rip through his shoulder and arms. Morgan collapsed to the ground, Mrs. Troy falling with him while attempting to cover herself over her child.

Diego barely had time to notice what was happening with Morgan, as he was flanked on all sides by throwaway men. He took a second to survey his surroundings.

Klaus, Eudora and Beaman had slid down the telescope to join the fray. Eudora and Beaman were knelt behind the telescope, on either side, taking turns peaking out and firing a shot - a system that seemed to be working for them.

The blue glow on Klaus' hands had died down, and he now had the rifle perched on his shoulder. He was keeping guard on a door that led to another room, maybe storage or a lab, Diego didn't care, all he cared about was the fact it was guarded.

Hotch had an eye on the stairwell door, but so far no throwaway men had come climbing up it. 

JJ and Cha-Cha were to side of him, back to back. JJ, who had blood streaming down her cheek, peaked over the top of a module every so often to lay covering fire while Cha-Cha hailed the bullets like no tomorrow. 

Diego drew in a deep breath, and held the monocle up to his eye. There, he saw Jeffery, his gun out and pointed to Troy's back. He saw Vanya, head thrown back, hair flailing, her white aura spilling out from her. He saw her shoot the moon, the same way he'd seen before.

From his pocket, Diego withdrew something he had picked up on the way to the gun store - a firecracker. He pulled out a lighter from his other pocket, when he noticed the monocle change.

He saw his plan unfold, he saw Vanya fall over, the white aura fading away. He saw them succeed, essentially. And he saw the risks.

However, he had no time to come up with a different plan. With one peak around the corner, he saw Vanya get into position. It was now or never.

Diego lit the fuse of the firecracker, leapt to his feet and hurled it in Vanya's direction. Just as the firework exploded next to Vanya's ear, singing her hair but otherwise doing no damage, Diego fell to the ground again.

He scooched up against the wall, his gloved hand holding over the bullet wound in his chest. Eudora shrieked and dove over to him, Klaus not far behind her. Diego went to speak, to wave Klaus away, to get him to go to Vanya instead, but when he opened his mouth, his throat closed up and blood poured forward. Eudora placed her hands around Diego's face, her eyes brimming with tears.

Klaus' hands began to glow again, his fists shaking from the exertion of using his untrained powers so much, but he grit his teeth and powered through it.

Jeffery cursed, firing his weapon wildly. When the gun clicked, signalling and empty round, Jeffery realised it was the only sound in the Observatory. The rest of his men lay dead. He held up his hands, let his gun dangle on his finger.

"How in the fuck," Jeffery growled, Hotch, JJ and Cha-Cha rising to their feet, guns pointed. "You couldn't have beat all that. You couldn't!"

"They didn't," Called a voice from within the stairwell. High heels clacked on the marbled floor as Allison strode in. "Strange thing happened, as soon as they heard my voice, they all decided to shoot themselves," Allison shot Cha-Cha a side-eyed glance, but decided to leave her alone for now, considering which side of the gun fight she was on.

"Okay okay, before you shoot, how about a deal, huh?" Jeffery chuckled nervously. "We can be reasonable-"

Jeffery was interrupted by Cha-Cha riddling him with bullets. Troy squeaked when Jeffery dropped to the floor beside him.

The crisis wasn't over, even though it felt like it. Allison pulled the unconscious Vanya up beside Diego, who was still struggling to breathe. JJ phoned an ambulance for him and Morgan.

Morgan managed to wiggle out from his barely covered hiding position, only to realise that Mrs. Troy had caught some more bullets - and was dead. Michael fell to his knees before her, sobbing, her name. Amelia. His daughter had been underneath her mother, and while she was still unconscious, she was covered in her mother's blood. Troy clutched her close in arms.

"I am so sorry," Morgan offered, but Troy ignored him. 

Diego could practically feel the room's attention fall on him. Eudora was trying to support his head, and struggled to keep her tears at bay. Diego wondered if this is what he looked like, when Eudora had been shot. He wondered if she felt the way he did now, if she had wanted nothing more than for him to stop crying.

"You're going to be okay," Eudora said. "The ambulance is on it's way, so just hang on in there, okay?"

Diego put a gloved hand on her wrist, and squeezed it gently. "Marry me," h croaked.

Eudora couldn't help but laugh. "You already asked me that, you fool. I said yes,"

Diego shook his head. "But we didn't do it... I want... to marry you,"

"You want to start planning the wedding?"

Diego rubbed his hand over hers, the faintest hint of a smile and a nod. Cha-Cha clapped her hands in front of them.

"Alright, alright, sappy time is over, let's get you down the tower to that ambulance," 

With slow progress, and a lot of struggle, the gang managed to bring all the injured and unconscious parties down to the bottom of the Observatory tower. The ambulances arrived, and with a quick word from Allison, ignored the destruction around them. When all the ambulance’s were gone, the only ones left behind at the scene were Hotch, Cha-Cha, Klaus and Beaman.

“This almost doesn’t feel real,” Beaman said. “We just stopped the Apocalypse. I mean… we saved the world?”

“It gets old after a while,” Klaus said.

“Not to mention this isn’t the end,” Cha-Cha said. “No one has messed with the commission as much as you guys have. Rest assured, once they appoint a new Head of Commissions, getting rid of you is going to be the top of their list,”

“Followed by starting another Apocalypse,” Hotch sighed. “And you said that the Commission’s timeline is a week ahead of our own?”

Cha-Cha nodded. “We’ll have to keep our guard up. This isn’t just one of your average cases, Mr. Chief of the BAU,”

Hotch cocked his head.

“The Commission’s limits have never been fully tested - we’ve never had a reason too. Between Five and that monocle, you can keep them at bay. But once Five is gone, that’s it for the world. There’s no way to fix this forever. All you can do is delay the inevitable. Think you can handle that?”

“The BAU’s limits have been tested, and we’ve broken through those limits more than once,” Hotch replied. “I’m more than certain we can handle this,”

“I doubt it, but I’ll let you try,” Cha-Cha shrugged. “What do you suppose we do with all those bodies in there?”

“Can’t we deal with it tomorrow?” Klaus whined.

“We will,” Hotch said. “For now we should be getting back to the hospital - and you back home,” He pointed at Klaus.

“What? No way, Diego and Vanya are in the hospital, I want to go to the hospital,”

“Why don’t you two go to the hospital, and I’ll go back to the house,” Beaman offered. “Are you coming with me?”

“Me?” Cha-Cha snorted. “No. No, I’m going to get myself a phone, drop my number into Quantico incase you lot need me, and then I’m retiring to a donut shop in California,” She gave the men a short wave, before marching off toward the main road.

“You too go on ahead,” Hotch said. “I need to make a couple of calls,”

Beaman took one of the SUV’s, and Klaus took Allison’s car to the hospital. He knew Allison would kill him for driving her car since he doesn’t have a license, but it’s better than leaving her car there with the keys still in the ignition.

Hotch climbed into his SUV, and called Rossi.

\--

“What time is it?” Prentiss asked.

“Well it was 12:50 when you asked two minutes ago, so I’d say 12:52,” Rossi replied. “And can you please step away from the window?”

“I want to keep an eye on the moon,” Prentiss replied.

The sound of Rossi’s phone ringing jerked everyone in the room to their feet. Before the second tone could even begin, the phone was to Rossi’s ear.

“Aaron?”

“Dave, good news,”

Rossi let out a sigh of relief. “Apocalypse over?”

“Apocalypse is over,”

Rossi gave the room a thumbs up, and they silently cheered. Prentiss clinked her glass with Luther, and the two knocked their drinks back.

“Is everyone okay?”

Hotch drew in a deep breath. “Mostly small cuts. Morgan got hit a couple times in his arms, but I think he’ll be okay. Troy’s wife died, and Diego was shot. He’s still alive, but he’s on the way to the hospital,”

“... Where was he shot?” At that, everyone stared back at Rossi.

“He got hit in the chest. I think the bullet hit a lung,”

“Jesus,”

“He’s headed to the hospital Dave,” Hotch reiterated. “He’s in good hands,”

“Are you heading there too?”

“Yeah, I am. Detective Beaman is heading back to the house, he’ll be able to explain further,”

“Okay. Let me know if there’s anything else,”

“As long as you keep an eye on Reid and Prentiss for me,”

“Yeah, of course,” Rossi hung up.

“Who was shot?” Luther demanded.

Rossi fiddled with his phone. “Diego,”

Luther jumped to his feet, and Rossi stopped him. “He’s heading to the hospital, along with the rest of your family to keep an eye on him,”

“I’m going too,”

“You can’t drive, and you’ve been drinking, Master Luther,” Pogo said.

“Oh yeah? And who’ll stop me?”

Rossi stepped in his path, hands on his hips.

“Oh. Right. FBI,” Luther sat back down. “Okay,”

“How bad was it?” Prentiss asked.

“According to Hotch, the bullet might have hit his lung,”

Pogo gasped, Grace cocked her head and Luther’s jaw clenched.

“At least it wasn’t his heart,” Prentiss said. 

Luther nodded, staring down at his hands.

“Something tells me that this will not be the last time we hear from the Commission,” Pogo said. “I’d advise you all to get some rest, while you can,”

\---

A few hours later, and the gang heard from the doctors that Diego was out of surgery, and will make a full recovery. Vanya had also woken up, Allison was there to comfort her.

As there was only one person allowed to visit, naturally, Eudora was the one to knock on Diego’s door.

“Hey,” She said. “How are you feeling?”

“I was thinking about Orchids,” Diego replied. “For the centerpieces at the wedding,”

Eudora closed her eyes with a small smile. “... Do you know how expensive Orchids are?”

“I think they’re classy,”

Eudora slid down into the seat next to the bed, and took Diego’s hand in hers. “I was so worried about you. I didn’t… I didn’t think you’d-”

“I know,” Diego said. “That’s why I want to start this. If there’s even a risk that I’m going to go, I want to go as your husband,”

Eudora pushed her forehead against Diego’s knuckles, and Diego gently rubbed them together. “Orchids are pretty classy,”


	12. The Wedding Of Diego Hargreeves And Eudora Patch (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter!! Finally!! I'm so sorry for the wait, but in my defense, I was moving across the country and starting college.  
> I really hope you like the chapter, it's just some snapshots of after the events, and of the wedding. I'm so incredibly happy at all the comments and likes and everything that you guys have been saying about this fic!! I will definitely be posting more Umbrella Academy fics, and more crossovers, even if they take a little longer to update than usual.  
> Thank you everyone for reading, I seriously cannot thank you all enough <3

Reid woke up a couple of days after the aversion of the Apocalypse. Hotch had told the team to take a couple weeks off, to recuperate. As such, knowing Reid was in good care with Grace, the team decided to leave him there until he woke up.

Which meant Diego, who was also stuck down in the infirmary due to his bullet wound, was the first one he got to see.

"Hey," Diego said, when Reid first opened his eyes. "It's about time,"

Reid groaned. "What happened?"

"Police station exploded. Bomb,"

"What? Is everyone okay?"

Diego chuckled. "Should be worrying about yourself! You nearly died,"

"I think I had a dream that I did," Reid winced.

"Right," Diego said.

"What happened to you?" Reid asked.

"Oh, yeah," Diego smiled. "Kind of caught a bullet. Just barely nicked my lung. I've had worse, though," Diego chuckled. He drew in a deep breath, and leaned over the railing of his hospital bed. "Listen, Reid. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back on that deal we made,"

Reid raised an eyebrow at him.

"Reid, you were impaled on a support beam. We had to give you something, you would have died without it,"

Reid's lip curled. "Yeah, I knew as soon as I woke up,"

"And..." Diego continued. "I'm going to have to tell you about my family. Coz that dream you had?... It wasn't a dream,"

"What are you...?" Reid stared at him.

"You met my brothers, right? Klaus and Five?"

For a moment Reid didn't answer. Diego watched his brow crease, the realisation setting in. "That's impossible, no then that would have meant that I..."

"Yeah," Diego said softly. "I'm so-"

"You killed me?" Reid said, and Diego shut his mouth. "And-and that whole thing, about the Apocalypse, was that true?"

"Yeah," Diego said slowly.

Reid let his eyes wander around the room, as his breathing started to quicken and his mind rolled over all the information that Diego (And his brothers) had dropped on him.

"Don't go freaking out on me,"

"I'm not," Reid answered quickly. "I'm just, I'm just trying to-to figure all of this out. I mean, I know the secret to time travel?"

"Just, let me start from the beginning, okay?" Diego said.

\---

Eudora only had one sister, Juliet, who was to be her maid of honour. Vanya and Allison of course were two of her bridesmaids, and her best friend, Bethany, was her third.

Diego was now tasked with picking his best man, and three groomsmen. Now, he knew who he was going to pick. Beaman and his brothers. The only issue was picking which to be his best man.

Five was... just, he's not picking Five. Anyone but Five.

Beaman, well, he wasn't overly close with Beaman. They became closer after the Commission business, but he still felt like one of his brothers should be the one beside him.

And as close as he was with Klaus, being a best man needs a lot of organisation and responsibilities. Something which Klaus isn't exactly known.

So...

Diego knocked on the door, delivering Klaus home now that Luther's prescription had finished. He had already asked Klaus to be a groomsman, and was currently not talking to Diego because he was expecting the Best Man title.

Luther opened the door, wearing a more "fashionable" overcoat than his usual one, picked out by Klaus no doubt.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey," Diego replied as Klaus walked in, nose to the air.

"Is he okay?"

"Acting like a child,"

"Ah," Luther nodded. "Uh... see you later then?"

"Actually, can I come in?" Diego asked.

Luther narrowed his eyes. "Uh... sure..." He stepped aside to let Diego in. Diego sank down onto the small couch in the apartment, and Luther stood near the window.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Diego cleared his throat. "So uh, I was talking to Eudora, y'know, about wedding stuff,"

Luther nodded with a hum.

"And we were talking about, y'know, maid of honours, and the best man,"

"Is that why Klaus is cranky? Does he not want to be your best man?"

"Oh, no I told him I wanted to ask someone else," Diego leaned back and rubbed his hands together.

"Oh," Luther nodded in understanding. "Someone from your work? Y'know that Rossi guy has been calling, to talk to Klaus,"

"Yeah he told me," Diego nodded. "But uh, no I didn't ask someone from work,"

For a moment, Luther didn't say anything. Then, his left eyebrow quirked upwards. "Pogo?"

"No not Pogo you moron, I'm asking you!" Diego spat.

Luther blinked, and his jaw dropped. He quickly threw a glance over his shoulder, as if there were someone behind him who Diego was actually talking to. "Why?"

"I don't know," Diego said.

Luther squeezed his fists closed and turned his head to look out the window. Diego got to his feet.

"'Coz you're my brother, Luther. And I want it to be you," Diego shuffled on his feet.

Luther, realising that Diego was serious, pushed himself off the windowsill, and cleared his throat nonchalantly. "Okay. Yeah, I-I'll be honoured,"

"Thanks," Diego said. He gave Luther a slow, and gentle punch to the shoulder, earning him a confused, and uneasy glare. "Okay, so I'm gonna go, I have some more y'know..."

"Oh yeah, of course,"

"-lot's goes into planning a wedding-"

"Yeah, yeah I know,"

"So I'm just..." Diego pointed to the door. Luther followed him to the door, and just as Diego was about to leave he turned back to Luther.

"Just, one thing buddy," Diego said, the corner of his lip twitching up. "Don't plan the Bachelor party in a furry rave, yeah?"

He gave the glaring Luther a pat on the shoulder before skipping off down the hallway.

\---

The Monday that the team (Minus Reid) were back, most of them had recovered from their injuries. Prentiss had a limp, JJ had a scar on her cheek, and Morgan had some bandages still wrapped around his biceps. The team were slow, sluggish, and more than happy to be doing simple paperwork that day.

Everyone's heads turned when Diego walked in to the Bullpen. Diego kept his eyes down on the ground, even Garcia, a smile plastered on her face, stopped dead in her tracks at seeing him. He saw her face drop out of the corner of his eye, but ignored her and strode right to Hotch's office.

"I thought Hotch fired him?" Garcia said.

"He said he would," JJ replied. "But saying and doing are two different things,"

"Was that Hargreeves I saw just walk by?" Rossi said, as he came speeding out of his office. Everyone down in the bullpen nodded.

"What do you know about this Rossi?" Prentiss asked.

"Nothing," Rossi admitted.

When Diego knocked on Hotch's door and stepped inside the office, at first he made no reaction. Then he stood up, but said nothing.

Diego would probably have preferred if there was a lot more yelling.

"Hotch, before-"

"What do you think you're doing here?" Hotch said.

Diego froze. He cleared his throat, and took a step towards the desk, pulling an envelope from his bag. "You didn't, uh... give me my notice, so I'm here to give you mine,"

He held out the envelope, and when Hotch didn't take it, he placed it down on the desk.

"Sit down," Hotch said, and Diego obeyed. "Why are you giving me this? There's a reason that I haven't fired you,"

"With all due respect sir, I cannot continue working here after what happened. I can't risk the lives of this team for my family's problems-"

"Your family?" Hotch said. "Your family's problem? You think that just because your family is at the centre of this, that it's your problem, and yours alone?"

Diego wanted nothing more than to look away from the scrutiny of Hotch's gaze, because it made him feel like a kid being scolded. The firm but level tone reminded him all too much of Reginald, even if Hotch's words themselves were of relatively a kind nature.

But Diego wasn't a kid, and he respected this man much more than he did Reginald.

"If the Commission strikes again, then we are talking about the destruction of the entire world. And your family aren't the only ones that are involved in this anymore, if the Commission are as powerful as you say they are, then I have no doubt they have all the information on every member of this team that they need," Hotch placed his hands on the table and leaned down so that he was closer to Diego's eye level. "I think it's in my best interest that I keep a close eye on the only people who have any hope of ensuring this doesn't happen,"

Diego swallowed thickly. "Yes sir,"

Hotch straightened. "Now go home. I know for a fact you haven't been cleared to come into work today," He picked up Diego's resignation letter and tossed it back at him. Diego took the envelope, bowed his head and then left.

The team were at least a little bit more subtle this time around. Pretending they weren't watching the door, they turned back to their work, Rossi and Garcia running back to their offices. 

It didn't go over easy, the information that Diego will continue to work there. The team, including Garcia who had been filled in on what happened, were suspicious of him, angry, and it wasn't like he was forgiven for what happened to Reid, even if Klaus saved him.

When Reid was well enough to come back, however, he was fully supportive of Diego returning too. He even thanked Rossi for his vote, Rossi was right - if it had been up to Reid, he would have voted the same way. It took a couple of years, but eventually, the hole that Diego had torn in the team had healed up with little more than a few cracks showing.

\---

A few weeks after Reid had returned, things slowly but surely returning to normal, Diego had a new development as regards the wedding that he needed to discuss with his family.

"You can't be serious," Allison said, a hint of a chuckle escaping because this was obviously a joke.

They were in the living room of the Academy. Diego and Allison were standing, Five was on the edge of his seat on a couch, cocktail in hand. Klaus was lounging across one couch, feet tucked behind Vanya, and Luther had taken another.

"Okay, I knew you were going to react this way-"

"To you inviting Hazel and Cha-Cha to your wedding!?" Allison scoffed. "Yeah, of course!"

"It's my wedding," Diego defended.

"Yeah, and Eudora's," Allison said. "You know, your Fiance, the girl they shot?"

"Diego," Luther said calmly. "As your Best Man, I have to tell you that you are insane,"

"You don't know them like I do," Five said. "Hazel? Sure, he's good, but Cha-Cha, you can't trust her,"

"She helped us stop the Apocalypse, remember?"

"Yeah, for her own petty revenge," Klaus argued. "And might I add, Ben's against this too,"

"What about you, Vanya?" Diego said. "What do you say?"

Vanya looked between Diego and the rest of her siblings. "You want my opinion?"

"Yeah. Everyone else seems more than willing to give theirs!"

Allison tutted and turned away, Luther and Klaus glaring at him. Vanya shrugged.

"I have nothing against them," Vanya said.

"Excuse me!?" Allison cried. "Nothing against them, they attacked the Academy!"

"A pretty impressive feat, you gotta be honest," Diego said.

"They dropped a chandelier on me!" Luther argued.

"Which was hilarious!"

"They kidnapped and tortured me!" Klaus said, sitting up.

"That's a valid point," Diego's tone dropping to a more solemn one about halfway through his sentence. He placed his hands on his hips. "But, if it hadn't been for them, you wouldn't have gotten the briefcase case and you..."

Diego trailed off, Klaus' expression turning from outraged shock to... disappointed shock. Like he couldn't believe he had gone there. Diego could hardly believe it either, and cursed himself silently for even thinking about bringing that up. 

Klaus untucked his feet from behind Vanya and left. Allison sighed, and folded her arms. "I'm not going to tell you what to do, Diego. But I am not going to be in the same room with those people,"

Allison strode out of the room. Luther stood up, and stepped in front of Diego.

"Diego, please, just let this one go," He said.

Diego grit his teeth, and turned his head away. Luther sighed, more like a growl actually, and left the room. Five shrugged, and followed suit.

Diego rubbed his hands over his face and let out a howl of frustration, plopping down on the couch in front of Vanya.

"Why do you want them at the wedding so bad?" Vanya asked softly. Diego opened his fingers to peak through them. "I mean, I don't think you'd fight this hard for one of us," She smiled.

Diego dropped his hands with a small smile. "I just... think they deserve a second chance. I mean Hazel, he's married, and he loves her. You should've seen the way he looked when he spoke about her. And Cha-Cha wanted to go to him, something about 'apologising' so I think they had a fight or something,"

Vanya hummed. "You mean they turned their life around for someone they care about?"

Diego's face blanched. "Your therapist teach you that?"

"Maybe. Hey at least I know what I'm good at if I want a career change,"

"Oh yeah, you'd make a great therapist. The amount of shit you've had to go through, nothing could take you by surprise,"

Vanya chuckled. "So what does Eudora think about this?"

Diego sighed. "Reluctant agreement. I think she might have thought the same as you, only she didn't tell me,"

"Then it won't be too hard to convince them," Vanya said. "If they know how important it is to you. Five's already halfway there,"

"Thanks, Vanya," Diego said. He got up to leave, when Vanya called out to him.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Diego nodded.

"Up on the Observatory," Vanya began. "Throwing the firecracker is what got you shot-"

"Vanya-"

"Did you know?" She said, catching Diego off guard. "When you looked through the monocle... did you see yourself getting shot?"

"No," Diego lied.

With lots of begging (and bribery for Klaus) Diego finally managed to convince his siblings to attend the wedding alongside their archenemies. Which left actually asking them. 

It took a bit of time to remember exactly where the donut shop was, but Diego found it eventually. And when he stepped inside, he found the wondrous sight of Cha-Cha, wearing a pink waitress uniform, complete with white apron and pink hat.

Diego felt like he'd been punched in the gut, doubling over with laughter. Cha-Cha growled. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

Struggling to breathe, Diego shakily took out his phone and took a picture of her. Cha-Cha rolled her eyes, then vaulted over the counter.

Diego threw up his hands "Okay okay! I'll stop now," He bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"What are you doing here?" Cha-Cha said.

Diego held up one finger, and dug through his back, still tittering from the sight of Cha-Cha. He fished out the three small envelopes and held them out to her.

Cha-Cha took them, and eyes them with suspicion. Finally, she ripped open the one with her name on it.

"You want us to go to your wedding?"

"Yes... as long as you'll be wearing that!"

Cha-Cha raised her hand and Diego flinched.

\---

When Luther came back from work (His knowledge in engineering made him qualified enough to work as a mechanic, while Klaus had recently gotten a job in a cafe) he strode right past Klaus down to his room. This caused Klaus to frown, as there were a pile of dishes in the sink, which Luther had ignored scolding Klaus about.

Klaus got to his feet, and slowly crept down the hallway down to Luther's room. He pressed his ear against the door. After a few minutes of hearing nothing, Klaus tutted disappointedly and turned away.

And then he heard Luther clear his throat.

"As you all may know, Diego and I have... Diego... Eudora is a wonderful woman, who- ack, no that doesn't sound right,"

Klaus tip-toed back to the door.

"Um... Diego is my brother. An annoying brother, but still my brother. And seeing him getting married tonight has..."

Klaus leaned to heavily on the door, and it slowly opened up, revealing Luther facing his mirror. He turned around to see Klaus wit a grin.

"Is that your Best Man speech?"

"No," Luther said.

Klaus plopped himself down on Luther's bed. "Can I hear it?"

"I haven't even written it yet,"

"Well maybe I can help. You don't seem to be having the best luck,"

"Thanks," Luther replied.

"Look, all I'm saying is, from what I've heard, you're being too formal," Klaus said.

"Aren't weddings a formal occasion?" Luther said.

"Haven't you ever been to-" Klaus shut himself up before he said anything more. Luther had unfortunately missed the wedding of the only other sibling of theirs who happened to get married. According to him, Reginald forbade him. Something that is incredibly possible - But it was more likely that he couldn't make himself watch Allison walk away from him, down the aisle. 

"Look, the wedding is in a couple weeks, so, come on then," Klaus chuckled, changing the subject before Luther could dwell. "Grab some paper and sit, I can help,"

\---

Today was the day. Today was the day that Diego will go from Fiance to husband. Today's the day that he can call Eudora his wife.

He stood in the dressing room/suite, in front of a mirror with his vows in his hand. Klaus was out, most likely getting ahead on drinking. Five might be with him, Diego wasn't sure. Beaman decided to go check on Eudora. Pogo was probably wandering around with Grace. He didn't know where Luther was, and he assumed all the girls were in with Eudora.

He cleared his throat. "Eudora... th-... there's-there-... th-th-" Diego growled, slapping the vows down on the dresser. He slowly counted in breath, and slowed his breathing. He then picked up the vows again.

"There's no w-wor... n-no... there's no w-ww," He clenched his fist, crushing the vows.

Luther stepped out from one of the rooms, fixing his tie. He had gotten his suit tailored specifically, and it actually suited him rather well. He looked at Diego with wide, innocent eyes. "Is eh... everything okay?"

"Yeah," Diego sighed, placing the crumpled vows down gently. "Yeah I'm just uh... I don't know, nervous,"

Luther nodded, and glanced down at the paper on the dresser. "Okay. Um, I'm just going to step out for a while, okay?"

Diego nodded, and waited for Luther to leave. He took the paper back, and sat down on a couch in the suite. "There-... th-there's no w-words..."

A few more minutes of failed practice, and the door to the suite creaked open. Diego looked over to see Grace peeping in.

"Diego? Luther said you wanted to speak to me?"

Diego blinked. "Uhhh..."

Grace strode over to where he sat, and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Diego said. "Ye-yeah I-I-... I-I w-w-wa-wa- I wa-"

Grace sat down on the coffee table in front of Diego, her hand never leaving him. "It's okay. Take in a deep breath, and then just picture the word in your mind,"

Diego did as he was told and took three seconds to breathe in deep. "It's my v-vows. Eudora and I wanted to... I don't w-want to ruin it,"

"Don't be silly. Even if you do stutter, you won't ruin it," Grace smiled. "Now. Can I hear what you wrote for Eudora?"

Diego quickly rubbed his nose and sniffed with a smile. "Yeah, of course Mom,"

\---

Eudora rarely wore her hair down. She hated having her hair in her face, and it almost always got thick knots on the back of her neck, no matter how many times she brushed it through.

That's one first things Diego noticed, when he saw Eudora walking down the aisle. One that had coherent thought other than "Omigodmigodomigod" anyway.

The next thing he noticed was how much the colour white really suited her. And when she took her spot on the alter, and turned to face him, he realised that she was looking at him the same way he was looking at her.

"Dearly beloved," Started the officiator. "We are gathered here today to join Diego and Eudora, in the union of marriage. This contract is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously, and with a deep realization of its obligations and responsibilities.

"Now, I believe the Bride and Groom have written their own vows, which they will now share," 

Allison held out the vows for Eudora.

“Diego.

The day I met you, was like taking a step onto a rollercoaster. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, and there were times when that scared me.

But for every scary climb into the horizon, there was always that ride down where I would have the most fun in my life. That I would hear my heartbeat, and feel the adrenaline throughout me.

And even when I stepped off, even when I thought ‘never again’, I found myself right back at the cue. No matter how many times the ride ended, I just wanted to keep going.

I now realise why. It’s because, though you may be a rollercoaster, I am your seatbelt. Where you rise and fall, I keep everything in its place.

You need me, just as much as I need you. And Diego, from this day forward, with every bump and every scare, I vow to be strapped in for the long run,”

A weak murmed of ‘aw’s echoed through the hall, causing Eudora to go red and quickly pass the papers back to Allison. Allison smiled at her, and then gave the papers to Claire, their flower girl, who grinned at being given a very very important job.

Diego felt something poke at his upper arm. He turned to see Luther holding out his own vows, with an expression of…

Pride. Luther was a very proud man, yes, but proud of himself usually. This time. This time, Luther was proud of Diego.

Diego had always strived for their fathers affection, it’s something he tried not to think about. He always felt inferior to Luther, no matter how much he battled those thoughts with logic.

So seeing Luther of all people, proud of him? His brother he always fought with, argued with, struggled for power with… was proud of him.

Diego took the papers, giving Luther a look of gratitude. He swallowed thickly, to steele his nerves.

“Eudora,

There are words can describe how I feel when I look at you. How much you brighten my day, how much just being near you can make me feel.

No words can describe how beautiful you are, inside and out. No words to measure how kind, and passionate, and wonderful you are.

When writing these vows, I saw just how true it was. No matter what I said, it just couldn’t compare to the truth.

Eudora. I love you, more than anything in this world,”

Eudora bit her lip through her smile, and Diego licked his lips.

“I d-d-... I d-don’t n-need any words. I promise that I will show y-... I w-will show you, everyday… J-just.. H-h-how much you m-m-.. Mean to me,”

Eudora cocked her head, her smile bunching her cheeks so much that her eyes little more that slits.

“By the power invested in me and the state of Virginia, you may now-”

Diego couldn’t wait, and surged forward to kiss Eudora. Eudora, who had been expecting as much, immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. The rest of room stood up with cheers and claps, and the officiant shrugged.

Afterwards, Eudora was positioned with her back turned to her bridesmaids, her bouquet in hand. She tossed it behind her, accidentally hitting Vanya on the head. She let out a squeal, the bouquet rolling into her hands. She made a fear filled yelped and tossed it to Allison. Allison jumped, said “Not going through that again,” and threw it back at Vanya. Vanya threw it at Allison again, so Allison tossed it behind her, to land in Cha-Cha’s arms. Cha-Cha grimaced and threw it away, Eudora’s sister Juliet catching it. Juliet, who was married, waved it above her head and tossed it aside, Claire running over to catch it.

Everyone else laughed at the women throwing the bouquet around. Claire held the bouquet above her head triumphantly, and Allison scooped her up in her arms. 

\---

The meal was done, first dance was over (The song was to This Years Love, by David Gray), and everyone was just going about doing their own thing. Morgan and JJ hadn’t come to the wedding, still not exactly over what had happened. Rossi and Hotch were determined to patch things up. Reid was fresh out of the Hargreeves infirmary, and had spent a lot of time with Pogo and Grace, and since he was not a heavy drinker, spent most of his time with them. Grace unnerved him the same way she did Hotch, but he was eager to learn from her and Pogo.

Garcia had also come, and was now champagne drunk with Klaus, in the corner of the hall, the two giggling like kids. Diego was on the dance floor, Claire balancing on his toes. Diego had ‘borrowed’ Dolores for the event, so Five was sitting at the bar with a martini beside Dolores, watching the event carry on. Diego had even picked up a new sequin dress top for her to wear.

Hazel was slow dancing with Agnes. Cha-Cha alternated between them and Five to talk to. She was approached by some of Eudora’s family, so she tried to act as mannerly as possible.

Allison and Vanya had been conversing with some of Eudora’s cousins, when Allison sneakily left Vanya, forcing her to mingle on her own, wrongfully thinking that that’s what you do with introverts.

Allison approached Eudora, who was talking to Hotch and Rossi. “So, how does it feel to be an official Hargreeves?”

“Did Diego not tell you?” Eudora said. “He’s taking my name,”

“Wow,” Allison said. “Progressive,”

“Yeah, his idea,” Eudora said.

“So he’s Agent Patch now?” Rossi said. “We have to call him that? We didn’t have to start calling JJ Agent La Montagne when she married Will,”

“I don’t think Diego will mind too much what you call him, Dave,” Hotch said.

“Diego Patch,” Allison said, looking over at him dancing with her daughter. “I don’t know if I could get used to that,”

“I don’t think we thanked you for what you did back at the observatory,” Hotch said.

“Oh, please,” Allison waved him off. “I barely did anything, I was already late to show up-”

“You barely did anything?” Eudora said. “You turned the tide, Allison. We owe you our lives. I don’t even know if Diego would be here if it weren’t for you,”

“Well, the same can be said for the other way around,” Allison said. “Diego saved my life more than once,”

“Hey,” Rossi said. “Today is about you and Diego. Let’s not dwell on the Observatory,” He raised his glass.

“To Mr. and Mrs. Patch,”

Allison, Hotch and Eudora raised their glasses to his.

“To Mr. and Mrs. Patch!”


End file.
